


Children of the Isle of the Lost

by Silverbulletsdeath



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Child Abuse, Drug Use, F/M, Gen, Violence, child prostitution, death of children, mentions death of fairy tale characters, mentions of rape/noncon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-13 13:50:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4524399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverbulletsdeath/pseuds/Silverbulletsdeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Born in sin.  Each one of our misfits looks to fix their life with the Wishing Mirror the one night they can do magic when it happen the Hunt is let loose through the Isles.  This is a story before the rehabilitation, before they were a gang.  This is how they all met, and how they started their long journey to redemption.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Evie and Carlos

**Author's Note:**

> So obviously this is more messed up then the movie and is ignoring any tie in books that might exist. While this is mature, there is nothing graphic here, besides perhaps the violence. But no scenes of rape, but there are mentions of it, also of murder of small cute sentient animals because Carlos mother is Cruella. So it does tackle mature subjects, but it will not go in dept with any of them here.

Various materials were thrown into the air as the Evil Queen swore under her breath.  The new inventory was fresh in, and after some bribes and a little extra sacrifice, it was time to see how they had been ripped off by the so called good guys.

Evie watched her mother while holding a darkening rag to her shoulder.  Usually this would be her job, but since even the Evil Queen knew better than to let blood stain their stuff, Evie’s mother got to do the dirty work this time.

“This is all fake,” said the Evil Queen angrily. Throwing the fabric they had gotten to the side. Evie looked to see one skein with a nice pattern scattered with sequins and fake gold thread fall to the floor.  Not worth much really, but it would make the perfect fabric for a new dress to that sidekick mommy had promised in exchange for material to make a passable crown that wasn’t so obviously made of plastic. 

“Alright, time to take Maleficent her due,” said Evil Queen dividing out the less interesting tenth to go as bribe to the Maleficent so that they could continue to be the ones to distribute the goods that were sent across the waters to their Isle so that the Evil in the land didn’t starve to death or freeze. Of course, in exchange, they did something… Evie wasn’t actually sure what it was the evil people from the Lost Isles did for the good people except keep to their crowded isles and not corrupt all the good people in the kingdom. “Take whatever you need for our purposes and then send the rest down the chute. I’ll check with the merchants once I’m back.  I saw Jafar’s brat hanging around the other day.  Want to make sure he isn’t having any of his hands take from our goods without paying the price.”

“You want me to check how much we should be charging?” asked Evie, keeping her voice soft and light.  Still, the crackly way it escaped her lips and ground like hard gravel into the air made her wince and her mother freeze.  But, if she didn’t check, and she went ahead and did the ledgers, than her mother would punish her for “putting on airs” if she didn’t do it she would be punished for not doing her job.

“Yes, of course, that’s what I trained you for isn’t it?” snapped her mother, opening the door with a flourish. “Clean up first though, I don’t want blood all over the ledgers.”

“Of course mother,” Evie whispered, looking down at where the blood was starting to drip off her fingertips. Wincing as the door slammed shut.

“And once that’s done, get that dress done!  I want that metal!” shouted her mother through the door. Evie sighed.  She wouldn’t be able to keep sitting down now.  She actually had to look and see how bad the scar was.  She dreaded what she had to do for stitches.  And there was no question it would need those stitches.  The dwarf had gotten her good across the shoulder before his time had run out and mother had thrown him out of their apartment. 

The mirror in their bathroom was clouded and gray.  Evie stared into her eyes, checking her mask to be sure none of her sequins had fallen off.  She then carefully removed the cloth from her shoulder, blood falling down wrinkled, paper thin skin.  It was always tricky to meld her skin together, when stitching herself up she found the hard way that she could easily rip apart her skin. 

The slip was quickly becoming sticky and soaked in the blood flowing from her shoulder wound.  She needed to do something quickly or she’d faint from blood loss.  She didn’t want to know what her mother would do if she found her passed out on the floor. 

There was a knock on the door, and Evie quickly grabbed a thick robe and draped it over her body.  The door shook this time and Evie went into the corner, hiding herself in the corner of the bathtub.  Keys started to scrape at the lock, and Evie put her head in her lap trying to not make too much of a scene. 

Magic, she knew everything about her magic.  She knew theory. She knew what her mother knew about magic when she had first been born, but that was useless.  Here on the Isle of the Lost, magic had been banned and suppressed.  Only one night out of the entire year could any sort of magic have a chance of working, and that was the one night in the year you didn’t want to use any magic or you’d get the wrong sort of attention. 

The deadly type. 

The door banged open, and Evie took out the small knife she had hidden in her slip.  She knew the rules her mother made, but sometimes, Evie couldn’t hide well enough, or talk herself out of a tough situation, and she would need the knife to survive the seconds left until her mother took away that client for the next. 

Her thirteenth birthday was going to be interesting.  Somehow she didn’t think her first real client was going to be as vanilla as her mother’s.  And her mother’s sex life was anything but vanilla. 

“Evie?” called a voice.  Suddenly Evie was scrambling out of the tub, slipping on the bit of blood there, and letting out a small yip when she almost tripped out onto her head. “Evie you alright?”

“I’m fine.  One of my clients just got my shoulder,” said Evie, pulling back the robe and slip to show where she had been sliced.  Carlos didn’t even wince at how wrinkled and dry her skin felt under his fingers.  His gaze didn’t even move from her scar.  No wince or disgusted sneer.  Instead he reached into the folds of his clothes and took off her mask.  Evie turned away but Carlos moved her head back and shoved a leather strip into her mouth. 

“I don’t have anything to dull the pain,” Carlos warned in his usual flat tone.  Evie swallowed and nodded.  The next half hour her screams were muffled as Carlos’s steady hands worked on stitching her back together.  Once he was done, Evie cleaned up the blood and Carlos sterilized his tools. 

“Not bad Carlos,” said Evie. “Pulled the skin a bit though.”

“Well I couldn’t have you dying of blood loss; my mother has a very important job for you,” said Carlos, leading Evie back into the main part of her apartment.  He picked a few skins off the floor and threw them at Evie. “Fresh this morning, just got done treating them for you.”

“Are these tiger skins?” asked Evie, putting on her beautiful mask.  Carlos was the only one she ever allowed to see her without it, but she still felt more comfortable with beautiful things hiding what she really was. “Are these cub furs?”

“Shere Khan and his gang stole from the little meat supply we have.  Mother hates headaches, and with the riots that are sure to happen from shortage, well, mother decided to take something from him to let him know how it felt,” said Carlos, a small knife playing between his fingers as he looked at the three pelts that Evie held in her hands. 

“Wow,” said Evie. “Not much here.  I hope Cruella isn’t hoping for a new coat or anything.”

“No, she also gave me these boots,” said Carlos throwing two heavy high heel boots at her feet.  Evie looked them over.

“I can make a nice trim,” said Evie with a shrug. “That good?”

“And a belt, if there’s enough material,” said Carlos.

“Well, this is certainly easier to deal with than the time you brought me human skin,” said Evie with a sigh.

“I thought you’d’ve gotten better over the last few months,” said Carlos. “You going to be alright to get this done?”

“Yeah, I’ll have it done in the week,” said Evie. Carlos sighed.

“That long?” he asked. “My mother was hoping to have it by tomorrow.”

“Do you know how much work I still have to do?” asked Evie. “We still have to get all this stuff to the merchants. And negotiate the price of the food with the grain, fruit, and vegetable merchants. I need to figure what the right price for everything is going to be.  And I still have my usual orders to fill.”

“Mom is offering prime cuts of what is left and a first choice of the pelts that I get,” said Carlos.  Evie just raised her eyes. “And I’m offering the chance of a lifetime.”

“Chance of a lifetime, hm?” asked Evie, completely unimpressed.  Carlos took her gloved hands in his.

“The Lost Mirror of Wishes,” said Carlos, with a smirk, leaning in close. 

“No,” said Evie, leaning back. “It doesn’t work.  The rumors...”

Carlos shook his head.

“The magic is limited, but as long as it is within its magical power and it finds you worthy, anyone who finds it the night of the hunt will be granted one wish,” said Carlos. “Why do you think that Kronk is now allowed to move between the main land and us so easily now?”

“That’s not proof,” said Carlos.

“Maybe, but you know Maleficent had found it.  You can hear her screams every night.  Even here,” said Carlos, putting his feet up on the table and running the knife along seam with his knife, careful not to slice the wearing thread. “The mirror does exist.”

“And even if we made it to the mirror with the Hunt nipping at our heels and the Earth caving in all around us.  What would I wish for?”

“To be beautiful,” said Carlos with a shrug.   Evie glared at him.

“And you think it’s within the mirrors power to grant me beauty?” said Evie with a sneer.  She stood up as gracefully as she could with legs of different size and a hunched back and sauntered over to her sewing station.  Purposefully pulling out the dress she was working on and using her foot to start the old sewing machine, pumping her foot to an inaudible beat. 

“You’re beautiful once a year,” said Carlos. “That night if I’m not mistaken.”

“That’s real magic,” said Evie proudly.  That one night, she’d find that tallest tower to hide in, away from her mother, listen to the howling of the pack, and do just a touch of magic, just a reverse, hold her breath, and stare at herself until the barrier went back up when the sun finally hit the generator the next day. 

“You told me it wasn’t big magic, just a reverse.  What’s to stop the mirror from making that reverse permanent?” said Carlos, leaning in, expression greedy.  Evie paused in her work, the cloth bunching a little under her fingers.  Then she shook her head. 

“You think I’m worth it?” asked Evie. “I’m no better than any villain.  Overcharging for what should be shared according to the king and queen Beast, and sewing using whatever disgusting pelts of the occupants here you decide to bring me.”

“And I’m the one who gets those pelts for my mother,” said Carlos, looking sideways at Evie. “And I still think I’ll get my wish.  I don’t think it’s about if you’re good or not.  I think it has to be right for you.”

“And ruling the world isn’t right for Maleficent?” said Evie, once again going back to her sewing, but her eyes flitting to the pelts he had brought her.

“It’s not something the Mirror can grant, but they say that the screams always have Maleficent screaming about her kingdom turning on her.  Perhaps she dreams of when she was a ruler every night and that was all the Mirror could grant her,” said Carlos.  There was a pause, and then Evie’s foot stops moving.  Slowly she stands up and heads over to take the cubs pelts in her hands. 

“It’s going to be dangerous.  When Maleficent went, she had ten other villains with her and she was the only one who made it out alive,” said Evie, looking through the slits of her mask. 

“Maleficent didn’t know where it was.  And we have a plan,” said Carlos.  Evie leaned back, her lifted eyebrow hidden from sight but her body language clear as day.

“We?” she asked skeptically. 

“I made a plan with Jafar’s son,” said Carlos, dropping his head.

“That scoundrel,” growled Evie, her hands knotting in the pelts.  She quickly stopped and tried to flatten it out.

“I know,” said Carlos with a sigh. “But Jay’s a brute.  If nothing else he can act like meat shield for the hunt.”

Evie hummed, liking that idea. 

“So, just the three of us?  Still doesn’t sound like enough,” said Evie, sitting back down and checking the pelt against the boots she was given.  Placing a hand on the material and already creating a pattern in her head.   

“We also have some guy call The Beast.  Another muscle head,” said Carlos, Evie crossed her arms, not impressed so far by what she heard. “And we have Red Riding Hood.”

Now Evie snorted.  She was tempted to shred the pelts in front of Carlos for stringing her along for so long.  Really, she had things she needed to be doing.

“Not that one.  The Street Princess,” said Carlos.  That made Evie take notice.  She heard of very few new villains since she spent most of her time locked away in this apartment.  But from Carlos, her mother, and the various clients her mother brought in, Evie had heard snippets from the person they called the Street Princess. 

“What use is a potion peddler?” asked Evie practically, letting her fingers start tracing the lines she need.  It would be a stretch and she’d probably need some leather, but she could make it work for both the boots and belt.

“She’s a quite the fighter and those potions she peddlers.  Well, once magic is returned the night of the hunt, then it’s going to give you more than just a buzz,” said Carlos. Evie sat back with a sigh. “What are you doing here now Evie?  What’s so important that it wouldn’t be worth the risk?”

Evie peeked out from under her lids.  Folding her hands, but having to admit he had a point, even if she didn’t want to admit to it. 

“Evie, don’t you think, after everything you’d done for your mother.  After all the stuff you’ve made, after all the clients you’ve had to deal with, that you deserve to be as beautiful on the outside as your mother?” asked Carlos, pushing the point.

Evie let out a deep breath. “Fine, stop pushing.  I agree.  Though I don’t know what use I’ll be.”

“You’re the best sorceress I know.  Only one who knows anything about it from our generation.  We’ll need it to find The Mirror,” said Carlos.

“It’ll attract the Hunt,” Evie warned.

“We know the risk.  Are you willing to take them?” asked Carlos.  Evie thought about that for a moment. 

“Yes,” said Evie, going to start on Cruella’s new boots. “I deserve to be beautiful.  And I’ll die that way if I have to.”


	2. Jay and Mal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so no OCs, obviously. Just me having the characters not using their real names. One should be obvious. But Red will be explained I promise. But no, just read the description of character, it should be clear who she actually is.

Jay ducked through the hole in the wall that led to the space where his client was waiting for him.  He had papers in one hand, and another free to shove whatever he found into some hidden spot in his baggy clothes.  The room itself was darkly lit, away from both their usual hangouts, though the stench of potions hung thick in the air. 

“Well, well Jay, I was almost afraid you wouldn’t make it,” said a deceptively light female voice.  Jay glanced to the side where hidden half in hours lounged a purple haired girl.  Just thirteen, but even some of the old villains feared getting on her side.  Afraid of her or at least afraid that she would stop supplying them.  Because this little Red Riding Hood was a wolf herself, and she would destroy you if you tried to take her out.

Whoever her parents were, they were not minions. 

“Had to lose my tails,” said Jay, with a shrug and handed over his notes to the young woman.  She casually walked up to him, ridiculous heels trying to make up for small height of the lithe like fairy born.  They looked a silly on her.  Red Riding Hood might be one of the scariest thing on the streets, she was still twelve’s years old.  When she dressed up like an adult, she looked like she was playing dress up despite how mature she was mentally. “Still stuck my neck out to get this for you didn’t I?”

“After I sent out my own sprites to rid of the tail you hadn’t lost, one of Maleficent’s henchmen if I’m not mistaken, I’d think you’d be less mouthy,” said Red, coming up and actually looking Jay in the eye, reaching out like she would touch him.  Jay pulled back.  Careful to keep out of her reach even though her eyes already caught her gaze. “Well, then, maybe I should just let it slip what you’ve been telling me just so your dad can keep up his little habit without going bankrupt.”

“Whatever, what do you think the Empress of Evil would do to you if she found out you were spying on her?” asked Jay.  Red sighed and rolled her eyes, pushing back her purple fringe from her eyes and giving him a condescending pout.

“Nothing Jay,” said Red, running her hand through his hair and sighing. “You’d have to be an idiot to not know that me as the drug mistress of this pathetic community didn’t have someone in my pocket.  No, the most she will do is kill my spy and send me his eyes or heart in a box.  Very good for some of my more obscure potions to tell the truth.”

Jay frowned at Red, watching her as she circled around him.  With a smirk, she threw a vial up in the air as she came out from behind him.  Jay caught it, easily weighing it in his hands, and not realizing that Red had made another move toward him until she had him bent over and looking into her glowing green eyes.

“You’re not going to force me to turn you into potion ingredients are you Jay?  Where would I get my information, and more importantly where would you and dearest daddy get their fix?” asked Red.  Jay held her gaze, the green triggering the promise he’d made stupidly when he was ten and stupid.  Well, stupider.  Dealing with Red was dangerous, lucrative, and humbling.  Jay knew Maleficent through his father, but that was as a shadow.  Until Red, he hadn’t dealt with one directly.

Red was particularly powerful however, because, despite the dome acting like a damper, she still had a fairies most basic magic.  As long as Red kept up her part of the bargain and supplied Jafar with his potion, than Jay was magically compelled to give information on Maleficent to Red.

Yeah, her parents had definitely not been some simple minions’ child.  They had been a force of nature. 

Thankfully, since Red didn’t know her heritage, and appeared to think she was a human with a gift for manipulating lesser fairies that she met.  And Jay was not going to enlighten her to her true race.  She was scary enough as it was. 

“Anyway,” said Red, breaking their gaze in order to start walking away, hips swaying as she swung the papers up.  Jay didn’t know with the little tidbits he was able to glean from his father and the few times he was allowed in the Empress of Evil’s presence, and he didn’t want to know.  However, he did want to stop her before she left.

“The Wild Hunt is in two days,” he said, hands slipping into his pockets.  Red stopped, sighed and shook her head, before turning back to Jay, eyebrow raised and arms crossing.

“So?” asked Red, not waiting for Jay to elaborate.  Then she laughed, well, cackled really. “Oh, don’t tell me the bad boy thinks he can exploit little old me.”

Red ruined her evil laughter by swaying her way on her ridiculous heels as she came over to stand in front of him.

“I have a nice safe place, out of the open beds of the streets to lay my head.  Don’t you worry lover boy,” said, flickering her tongue and scrunching her nose. Jay narrowed his eyes.  Red could seriously push his buttons, and they’d ended up physically fighting over petty things a couple of times.  Red was good with her staff, but Jay was secure in the fact that she always ended up running to her lair during those times. 

She might be a mastermind, but even she wasn’t stronger in a physical fight than him. 

“And the sprites can always make a nice bite for the puppies if they somehow do get in,” said Red, then she turned on her heels. “But thanks for thinking about me.”

“I’m going to find the Wishing Mirror,” said Jay, giving up any pretense of trying to go about this in a way he could exploit.  He just needed her help.  He was already skeptical this would work.  He might bail on Beast and Carlos if he couldn’t get her to join them. 

“Yes,” said Red without missing a beat.  Jay looked at her in confusion. Red rolled her eyes and sat back on her heels with a sigh that had her bangs flying. “I’ll go with you to get my wish.  Who else will be joining us?”

“The Beast,” said Jay, and then sighed when Red twisted her hand for him to explain further. “You know, the human like rug with foot long claws and razor sharp teeth.”

“You mean that loser my sprites have made cry?” asked Red sounding completely unimpressed.

“He’s actually pretty feisty when you corner him,” said Jay.  He’d found that out when he’d set Hook’s daughter against the Beast for a bit of fun.  A little bit bloody, but they still had Capcernica was still alive, just needed some stitches and she’d be back on her feet in a month or so.  Really, Jay didn’t think it was bad for a guy who had just entered the scene; he actually was doing fairly well.  He was useful if nothing else. 

“Anyone else?” asked Red, obviously not impressed by what she heard. 

“Carlos,” said Jay.  Red just gave her a blank look. 

“Who? Someone even more obscure than a pathetic nobody?” snapped Red. 

“He’s the Skinner,” said Jay, having forgotten that most people didn’t know Carlos himself, just his reputation.

“Oh, much better,” said Red with a smirk, looking more at ease. “Anyone else?”

“Evil Queen’s daughter,” said Jay with a shrug.

“The shut in?” asked Red dryly. “Whatever.  Anyone else cluttering this trip?”

“Nope, I thought more would slow us down,” said Jay with a shrug.

“Like cripple won’t,” asked Red. “I want to get to The Wishing Mirror.”

Jay rolled his eyes.  The way Red said, you would have thought this expedition had been her idea all along and he was just the recruiter.

“It was the Skinner’s idea,” said Jay with a shrug. “He’s said she’s good with magic.  Is even able to turn herself beautiful once a year when magic returns.”

Red shrugged. “Fine, that sounds good.  I’ll join, but I will stomp over whoever gets in my way for that wish.”

“I think that’s what everyone plans on doing,” said Jay truthfully. 

“Come here that night.  We’ll get ready and then head out to the cave,” said Red. Red smirked and nodded, walking away and through the layers of the curtain to go back to her minions and her potions.  Jay left the way he had come.  He was a little worried about the fact that apparently Maleficent had sent someone to trail him.  Sure, he was used to tails.  Most people knew him on sight as a thief and a rabble rouser, but he hadn’t thought that his little projects he did to amuse himself and keep his father happy until his next hit were enough to concern the Empress of Evil herself. 

Jay bit his bottom lip trying to go over anything he could have done or said within her hearing, or that would have gone back to the queen, that would have made Maleficent take notice of him.  To wonder if he was a spy. 

“You back Jay?” asked a harsh voice that some of those animal type villains sometimes had when they tried to speak human language. A furry head peaked out from under a blanket from the corner of the little house hut that they shared with other villains and their children.  They were lucky that they got the corner of the hut.  The hut could mostly keep water away when it wasn’t raining or snowing too hard.  They also had quite a few blankets that were put in the way to offer them some privacy. 

“And what would have done if I was my father?” asked Jay with a laugh, hitting Beast on the head as he jumped and covered the covers back over them.  Beast huffed from where he landed on him.

“Been skewed through with his sword I guess. I thought your dad wouldn’t come back until after we’ve left,” said Beast with a shrug. Jay shrugged.  Red had a point when she said that Beast was pathetic, or whatever.  The other boy really wasn’t very brave, and he was all polite and shit.  It was just weird. 

“Whatever, I need to stretch my legs, want to join?” asked Jay.  Beast might be a wimp, but Jay was sure he could get the other creature to act as a lookout.  Maybe Jay would be able to get some really interesting things from the ‘antique’ shop down a couple of blocks.  There was always shinny shit to steal there, and Jay was sure there were still a couple of lamps that he hadn’t tried rubbing.

“Will we get to meet any of the people helping us?” asked Beast hopefully.  Jay bit back a sneer, trying to keep his smile light and chummy.  Whoever had been this boy’s parents had done a horrible job raising him.  Beast was open and kind, with big, easy, genuine smiles with no ulterior motives. And while it had been Beast’s idea to go after the Wishing Mirror, he had proposed the expedition in the most confusing and idiot manners.  Instead of trying to entice people with the idea of getting their wishes and stepping over and even doing in their rivals as they fought for their turn.  Instead Beast had talked about forming a team that would work together so that each and everyone could have their wish.

It was ludicrous.  For one thing, someone was going to die getting to that mirror.  That was a given.  The two times anyone had made it to the Wishing Mirror, everyone else in their party had been dead by either the Wild Hunt or by their fellow villains.  Anyone who signed up with him would have thought they were the targets of Beast’s wrath. 

Jay, interested in what the creature who had cried the day before because the sprites played with him a little, was trying to accomplish with the obvious ploy.  Decided to talk the Beast up.  He quickly learned that the Beast was completely and against all odd sincere about forming a group that would work together and all reach the Wishing Mirror to make their wishes.  And that just by listening to Beast spout his nonsense, the silly creature thought they were friends.

After almost blowing it on such an easy mark by not talking as Jay took a full minute to confirm yes he was a friend.  The son of Jafar soon learned that while Beast was feeble of mind, he wasn’t feeble of body.  By making it seem as if he were in trouble, Jay watched as Beast ripped into Capcernica trying to defend and save Jay.  And afterwards Beast had felt bad that he had hurt Capcernica, though assured Jay he would do anything to protect his new friend.

Truthfully, Jay hadn’t thought there was anyone over the age of three who thought that making friends in Isle of the Lost was possible.  Sure you could form alliances with other people, but those were weak and easily destroyed.  You didn’t care that you lost it except for whatever you lost with it.  Like a strong fighter, or a steady stream of goods.  The person you could care less about, fit to be disposed of or forgotten as the situation called for. 

Beast seemed to have somehow not learned this growing up.  He didn’t look at the world and see people he needed to manipulate to having to put up with his existence.  He didn’t see everyone as a potential enemy just waiting to stab you in the back when it would best serve their purposes or manipulate you into doing their dirty work. 

No, somehow Beast looked around him and saw potential allies, potential friends.  He saw peole that even if he didn’t know them, even if he hated them, he still cried when they got hurt and mourned when they died.

He was fascinating. 

“No, unfortunetly all our friends are busy getting ready for the big day,” said Jay, and then smiled as an idea came from. “We need to get ready too.  I need to pick up something from the Antique store, but there’s been a gang hanging around there that I don’t like the look of.”

“I’ll help Jay,” said Beast, pushing the blankets away to reveal matting but still pretty silky fur.  Really, Beast was lucky Carlos or Cruella hadn’t heard anything about his pelt yet.

“Really?” asked Jay clapping the other boy on the shoulder. “Thanks a lot Beast.  Really, I can’t believe how great it is to have a friend now.”

Beast smiled, looking triumphant, and Jay bit his lip so he wouldn’t laugh at the other boy.  It wasn’t time to tip his hand yet.  The Hunt hadn’t even started. 


	3. Meeting of the Big Four

Evie listened with half an ear as her mother prattled her usual warnings about the Hunt.  The Evil Queen herself was going to spend the time locked in Malificent’s spacious upper story room that served as her castle, as cramped and rundown as it was.  Evie finished off the last of her notes on everything they had, the goods they had traded and the bit of gold they had for getting for.  Evie sighed, her fingers playing with one of the little gold disks.  She loved when her mother would take out their little lockbox of actual money and let her play with and count it. After she made a little cut to make sure they weren’t counterfeits, she’d polish the real ones until the glimmered and shined.  The real ones went back into the lock box, and the rest would be used around town after it was painted gold over the spot Evie had cut to show the fake inside.

“Put those away,” said the Evil Queen, grabbing the coins from her fingers and throwing them into the lockbox.

“Yes mommy,” said Evie, regretful to see the pretty little coins away.

“And lock the doors behind me,” said her mother, already half way out of the door. “You need to finish that outfit for Edgar.  He was hoping for something with that faux cat fur that came in with the last shipment.”

“Yes mommy,” said Evie, wondering how much trouble she’d get in if she made it through this adventure alive.

Beautiful, she was going to be beautiful.  More than just for one night as she listened to the howls of the Hunt.  Now she got to have a chance of always being beautiful.  She could look like her mother had when she was her age.

There was a knock on the door and Evie hurried over as quickly as her legs could take her to the door.  Carlos seemed taken aback to see her open the door so quickly, but then with a shake of his head, turned on his heel and started away.  Evie carefully followed him.  She didn't even grab her shawl, just followed on behind him, limping at the strain it caused her body.

When they went out, Evie realized for the first time that it was much earlier than she had ever dared to leave her apartment before.  It was just as the residents had really started to get that creeping nagging in their brain that the Hunt was really going to start soon.  Panicked eyes scanned all around her, and Carlos actually had to come and support her as people jostled hard into her, not maliciously just because they were so worried about getting to somewhere anywhere that wasn't immediately where they were at that moment and hoping to run into someone that had a safe place to hide during the Hunt that they could trust to not kill them, or was weak enough that they could kill them first. 

Evie fell to the ground, yelping as her side and knees hurt where they struck the ground.  It hurt like crazy, just from a light brush of a rushing moron and falling to her knees to the cobblestones below her feet.  One of the reasons Evie didn't try to leave the apartment, besides the fact she was hideous and her mother forbid it, was that her ugliness also learnt itself to frailness of the body. 

Carlos sighed and helped Evie to her feet, supporting her as he half carried her to wherever they were going.

"Is this going to be a problem?" snapped Carlos under his breath. 

"No," said Evie, thankful she was telling the truth as she was sure that if the answer was no the Skinner would either add her to the list of pelts he'd collected through the years or throw her to the Hunt to slow it down for at least a moment. "The spell gives me complete beauty.  The outside and the inside of my body."

"It's not far from here," said Carlos with an exaggerated sigh.  The place they were meeting ended up being far enough that Evie spent the last few minutes clinging to Carlos's back like a monkey.  This was a bit tricky as they entered a falling apart shack.  Carlos let go of Evie's legs, and the girl found herself practically fell off him, her weak arms locking and letting go, her fingers aching from where she had been holding tight to his clothes.

"I'll be back.  Use your magic whenever you can," said Carlos with a shrug, leaving then rather abruptly.  Evie sighed, but how interesting.  Cruella might have been quite the villain in her day, but here was proof she and thus her son had no magic.  It had been at least two solid minutes since her magic had sparked like a firecracker hi with sparks. 

"Mirror mirror on the wall," said Evie, and called by the beginning of the rhyme, a mirror appeared.  Evie didn't know if was he original mirror her mother had called.  She didn't think so, it didn't have the face or voice of the old mirror.  Not that it mattered.  Evie just needed it to reflect her.  Slowly Evie removed her hood.

Sure, she could have changed while on Carlos's back, had it so when she finally come off she could have shown him how useful and beautiful she was.  But this was the one bit of useless nonsense she'd always had for herself.  A ritual she'd perfected since her fifth birthday. 

Carefully she pulled away the shawl from her face, letting the outer rags fall away to reveal the dress she'd technically been making for one of the ugly step-daughter's daughter.  She dress hung off her, the cloth twisted and ugly as it wrinkled over her hump, and her clothes too big over her brittle body.  Evie pushed at her skin, the wrinkled skin folding over her finger and hanging disgustingly like thick porridge on her body. 

Her eyes were vacant, glassy though she could still see.  Her fingernails and teeth yellowed and chipped.  Her hair was stringy with bald patches, and there were various warts with little hairs growing in spots all over her body. 

"On the night of wolves, when the moon is full, replace my image with my mother's earthly glow," whispered Evie, tracing the outline of herself on the mirror.  The change took moments, but everything changed.  The hump was gone, her legs were the same size, her wars disappeared, her skin became firm, and her hair filled out.  Evie sighed, her breath no longer rattling in her chest, and her sight clearing so that once again little details became obvious and colors she hadn't realized existed before suddenly came to the forefront. 

Evie sighed and twirled around in a circle.  She was beautiful, her very body healthy and shinning.  Her magic flowing and turning her into the gorgeous princess that she had always meant to be. 

"Well, if it isn't the shut in," said a sarcastic female voice. Evie turned around.  The girl was her age, just on the cusp of turning thirteen, though with obvious fairy traits.  Slightly tipped ears, thin frame, and unnaturally colored hair, and skin just a little too fair and unblemished to be real.  She was dressed, quite frankly, horribly.  With the usual mishmash of clothes of not only the scavengers but ones that didn't care what they took from the "charity" piles.  The only piece of clothing that made any statement other than "I don't care how this looks" was a little makeshift red cape.

"Red, I assume," said Evie, almost sighing in contentment at how her voice almost sounded musical just when talking. 

The potion dealer smirked, giving Evie a once over as she walked toward the formally ugly girl.  She looked around, trying to look nonchalant.

"So, you seen the rest of our little party?" said Red.  Evie took a careful step away from Red.  She would rather not become a victim of this creature's right after she got to be beautiful again.  Red seemed to realize the effect she was having because she sent Evie a wide smile. A little too pleased with reaction she was getting from Evie. "Not that I don't trust your magic.  It's obviously something special to turn you from that into this, but even with my skills and potions I think we'll need a little more for the obstacles we're going to face and the Wild Hunt nipping at our heels."

"Aw, don't worry Red, I'll protect you," said this time a male voice.

"Hello Jay," said Red with a smirk to the other member of their group.  Evie couldn't help but glare at Jafar's son.  While Evie had never met him before, he'd caused her enough grief through his mischief, that she was still a little sore that she needed to play nice with him for even a second to get what she wanted.

Jay through a book at Red, the fairy caught it.  She looked down at it in confusion before looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"A loan only for tonight," said Jay.

"Oh, a loan is it?" asked Red skeptically. 

"Seeing as I took it from Maleficent's safe, I don't think even you wouldn't be dead within the hour if she found out it was gone," said Jay.   Evie found herself turning away, as if looking into her mirror again, fingers carting through her hair and trying to hide her smirk.  Well, well, if Evie was lucky and her mother and Maleficent actually did try to do magic instead of just sitting around and reminiscing about the good old days.

Maybe they would even look hopefully to the old spell book and realize it was missing.  Then news of what Jay, Red, Evie, and Carlos had accomplished.  That Red was a fairy and that Jay was the son of a rebellious minion.  Red would be treated however Maleficent's mood dictated.  Evie didn't really care what happened to her.  But Jay as the obvious thief, now he would suffer, Maleficent would kill him if he was lucky.  Evie hoped for the worst, but really, she'd just be happy enough as long as whatever happened to him meant he never gave Evie another headache.

"Who are you?" asked a gruff growling voice. Evie stepped to the side.  A creature covered in matted fur and with truly impressive set of claws.  Evie stepped away from the monster, moving her dress so it wouldn't get torn.  She looked at the thing, disgusted by how the dirt and grit covered its body. 

"I'm Beast," said the creature.  Evie stared at him, really impressed by what she saw.  Despite all the sharp pointed parts of his body, he was adorable.  Evie reached out after a second, hesitating for a moment while Evie looked at the confused look in the Beast's eyes.  It had to be his eyes, because while his fur was long, and hinted through color and length that he would be adorable once cleaned up, the fur was matted and disgusting at the moment.  No, the fact that he looked so adorable had to be in those big green eyes staring so adoringly that it was actually a little funny. 

"Evie, what do you think you're doing?" asked Carlos, running in from the side and actually picking Evie up when he got to her and putting her behind him.  Evie just sort of let it happen, not because she was worried that she was in actual danger, but because she was just so confused about what had just happened to her.  "What is this monster?  Am I supposed to make a nice coat for all of him out of his hide."

"Hello Carlos," sneered Jay.  Evie glared at the thief. "This is Beast.  You can thank him for this little adventure, the entire thing was his idea."

"I thought it was your idea," snapped Carlos, his gaze never leaving Beast. Evie sighed and pushed past Carlos.  As nice as it was to have someone protect her, they only had a limited time to get the Wishing Mirror, it wasn't a good sign if they couldn't get along even before they got started.

"Hello Beast, I'm Evie, The Evil Queen's daughter," said Evie, smiling as sweetly as she could.  She'd practiced in the mirror time and time again, but she'd never really had a chance to use it at all let alone when she wasn't evil as sin, so she didn't actually know if it worked or not. She leaned her head backward toward Carlos. "That's Carlos, Cruella's and Gaston's son."

"And this is Red, the potion maker I told you about," said Jay, sauntering over and placing a hand on the Beast's shoulder. "Your new friends."

"Friends?" scoffed Red.  Jay just smiled at her and Beast clicked his claws on the ground.

"I know it sounds weird to you all, but I believe that in this trip we'll all form bonds that will tie us together for the rest of our lives.  And anyway, looking at it from a selfish point of view," said Beast hurriedly, not looking at any of them as he spoke. "Wouldn't you feel safer with a group of people who want to watch your back?"

There was a long stretch of silence, and then let out a burst of laughter, Evie covered her face, and glanced at Jay.  The son of Jafar was smiling at Beast, not like he believed the silly thing, but a slight sneer that let Evie know he was playing the silly thing.  Beast was probably meant to be the first sacrifice to the Hunt. 

That sort of made her want to protect Beast.  Even if the guy was a little touched in the head.

"So... we should talk about where we are going to start," said Red with a drawl. "I've heard that the caves start down in Dank street by Ursula's pool."

"I thought it was over by King John's Tower," said Carlos.  Evie glanced back, surprised at how tense the Skinner sounded.  Then again, this was Cruella's son.  It was probably completely against his nature to see a creatures with pelts so thick and not kill and make some sort of clothes out of  it.

Evie sighed and wiggled her fingers, not even needing any words to make this spell work.  Silence broke over the group and then everyone flinched a little as the howls of the Hunt echoed through the street. 

"Are you trying to get us killed already?" asked Red with a fake smile, twirling a staff out from behind her back.  Carlos stepped in front of Evie again, looking quickly down at Beast, and then at Red, taking two long knives from a leather jacket Evie thought looked nicer than she'd seen before on the island. 

Evie just flicked her fingers at Red and rolled her eyes at the fairy's ignorance. 

  
"That wasn't for this magic," said Evie moving her head toward the map she called up into the air. "This doesn't even really count.  The blueprints to finding the Wishing Mirror are written in the air.  You just have to know how to make them visible.  I do this every year."

"And yet you've never gone after the mirror yourself," said Red with a drawl.

"It changes every year," said Evie with a sigh. "And I would not only be attracting the Hunt if I went alone with just my magic, and the fact that we know that these passages disappear when daylight hits."

Red raised an eyebrow, but just looked at the map.

"Is that the hyena's lava caves?" asked Carlos after a moment. Then he snorted. "Well, that could be interesting."

"Perhaps your reputation will scare the hyenas away?" asked Jay.  Everyone gave him a disbelieving look.

"No," said Carlos slowly, who obviously thought the other boy had to have been dropped on his head as a child. "But they won't be overtly aggressive, just more playful than they would be to normal people."

"That sounds worse," said Beast.

"First thing you've said that's made any sense," muttered Evie.

Another howl went through the compound, and this time the ghostly cries of the huntsmen themselves joined, echoing to signal the successful takedown of their chosen prey.  All of them shivered, and Evie looked toward the sound, sure by her actions during this hunt that she would make them the next prey to hunt.

"Well, then, we should get going.  Sounds like we're going to need all the time we can get," said Red, turning on her heels.  She then paused and reached into the folds of her clothes and threw each of them a vial of black potion laced with streaks of red. "I have more interesting potions on me, but that one is for a pinch.  You find no hope and are at their mercies, hen that will save you from some pain and misery, though it does have some rather lethally permanent effects."

Evie glanced down at the vial, a little shocked the other girl had given it to them.  It almost seemed nice, there had to be a catch.  Still, better to kill yourself than either be ripped to shreds by the Hunt, or worse, become one of its members.  Evie hid the vial, walking out with the rest of her new companions to find the Wishing Mirror. 


	4. Hyena's Graveyard

"The streets are rather crowded," said Beast, looking around at all the hunched people meandering in the streets.  Not as many as just a half hour ago since he Wild Hunt began, but enough to surprise most people.  Evie certainly looked shocked, Red despite saying this was one of her big selling days looked surprised.  Carlos, the Skinner, looked bored, the only thing belying some worry was how he kept pulling increasingly bigger weapons from his coat.

"Is that a war hammer?" asked Evie eventually as Carlos took out a spiky hammer with a head bigger than Cruella's hair.

"Shouldn't you wait to do magic until we really need it?" asked Red dryly, her hips swinging and her staff tapping in rhythm against the ground. She had Maleficent's book cradled in one hand, her gaze traveling across the page, seemingly not paying attention  what is happening around her.    

"That's not really magic," said Evie, she made a small compact mirror appear in her hand. "The only way the dogs of the hunt will smell it is if their sniffing his coat, and by then we're already doggy chow."

"I'm missing why so many people hide when magic is so easy to hide away," sneered Red.  The others all looked at Mal.  The fairy gave them a toothy smile and even Beast seemed to realize that she was being sarcastic. Mal turned on her heels to look at Evie, giving the daughter of the Evil Queen another look over. "So, when will the hunt be after us?"

"They're drawn by magic," said Evie.

"So, why is it said that their drawn by people trying to get to the Wishing Mirror?  Do they guard it?" asked Jay, reaching over and casually pushing the hooded goblin that had been sulking beside them.  He crashed through the wall of the store next to them.  Silence fell over the group.

"So, partly it's for this reason.  People who came back into their magic and no longer know how to use it and are in high adrenaline situations where they will use their magic purely in reflex even if the most they can do is clean with it or make their voices clear," said Evie.  Jay thought about this and nodded.  This made sense to him.  Jafar had been locked away in his lamp only a couple of years before released onto the island where his genies powers were restrained, and in a lamp, genies were very limited in what they could do.

So now that Jafar and Jay no longer spent this night locked in that darn lamp, they spent the night after that first one trying to not do any magic and once again spend a night constantly on the run from the huntsmen and their dogs.  Jay could remember at five falling onto the ground clinging to his father's cloak as the man disappeared around the corner.  The dogs had arrived soon after that.  Red eyes glowing and teeth gnashing at his ankles, spraying blood on the pavement and whimpering in fear as a man, fuzzy around the corners dressed in heavy leather tunics and carrying a sword stared her down, lifted it, and disappeared into the sun.

A howl split the air.  Everyone shivered and looked around.  Red even glanced up from her spell book.

"Of course," said Evie, obviously trying to sound casual. "Some books say that it's also intent and ambition that attracts the hunt."

"Books?" asked Jay, thinking that if it was true that the vain girl said was true, his father would like it if he picked up some resources.  Evie blushed, clear on her white cheeks as she looked at her mirror and played with her silky black hair. Unfortunately, the girl seemed to be able to think for herself as she only shrugged.

"But everyone tries to figure out or wish that something would change," said Red, a impish smile on her face. "Trust me.  Hopes our biggest seller on this night."

"Yeah, but a lot of that's just dreams," said Skinner, swinging around his war hammer and scaring off a few urchin children of various races back into the shadows. "Shallow little flights of fantasy carefully measured out in what they feel are secure areas where they can play pretend at actually getting that taste of real freedom.  I've been at the borders when the hounds started their rounds.  It's where the hunt really begins.  Where the first of the prey are hunted down."

"Father tried to teleport once," said Jay with a shrug. "He hit the glass ceiling and spent the rest of the night tricking people into becoming momentary snacks for the hunt to slow it down while he ran."

The others seemed to think about it, and as if to prove Evie's point about powers being unpredictable around this time, a quick image of dark gossamer wings appeared briefly on Red's back. 

A big black form suddenly appeared from the side alley.  He had a gap tooth, eye patch, and looked to be ten feet tall.  Everyone's weapons were up in moments, but of course he grabbed the shut in.  She let out a squeal, and Jay inwardly cursed.  He could tell that everyone else was thinking along his lines.  Usually none of them would have cared who the stupid, obviously low grade minion grabbed, they would have disposed of him in an instance and if his hostage was also killed, well, at most that was an inconvenient setback.

But Evie was their magic user.  Yes, they had Red, and even Jay could do simple things.  But Jay knew for a fact that Red's magic mostly revolved around what she could do with her staff which was channel very brutish spells that knocked everyone out within her general vicinity.  Jay's spells were that of a severely crippled genie like teleportation, flying, and changes sizes.  Sure Red had the book, but she still had a lot of power and a notoriety for her magic being as subtle as the Skinner's war hammer when she wasn't making her precious potions. 

Then the guy cursed, his hand turning a sickening bright red then blue and the discoloration continued up his arm.  Evie easily slipped out of the man's grip, looking positively bored, and since Jay was only three steps away, smirked, ran forward and threw the man into wall of the building closest to him, the man's back actually breaking the binding holding the metal to the roof.

"That was not human strength," said Red with a casual flip of her book.  She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "Jay..."

"I'm Jafar's son," said Jay.

"So you're half genie?" asked Beast.  Jay found it interesting that in all this time, that thought hadn't apparently occurred to the silly guy before this. "Who's your mother?"

Jay noticed the others give her a sideways glance.  Jay kept the pace for a few seconds, pushing forward since they had stopped to stare for a moment.  Personally Jay would have thought they were more interested in how Evie, the weakest of them by a long shot, only invited because she appeared to have some skill in magic, had so easily escaped her captor.  More than that, how of instead of whimpering after the attack, she had simply drawn her attention back to her glass as she fixed her hair and only let her eyes wander to show she was still listening to the conversation.

"Last time I asked," said Red, flipping her book open to what looked like a random page. "He said the wind. Or was it the dark mother?"

"I have no mother," Jay admitted with a shrug.  It wasn't like this bothered him, he wasn't the one who decided to keep it secret anyway.  Plus, after hearing his father talk to himself right before he found Beast, well, perhaps it was dangerous not to let someone know. "It turns out that when you try to put ultimate cosmic power into a body turned mortal from the dome, it splits in two."

"Wait, you're Jafar?" asked Skinner, a touch of a squeak to his usually monotone voice. Made some sense.  Skinner had once casually told him that at least ten different people had tried to pay him to kill Jay.  Skinner had actually chuckled.  The most humorless thing that Jay had ever heard.  It actually sent shivers down his spine. 

It was nice to know that Skinner now was glad he hadn't taken the assignments.  The reason Carlos gave for not taking them back then, was that Jay was too much fun to kill.  Thus the creepy laugh.  But now it was because people just didn't try to kill the big evil's themselves.  Not unless they were suicidal or stupid beyond all belief.  It just wasn't done.  Sure the followers, the partners, and the children were all fair game, but the big bads were left to mess with but not to kill.

"I'm what couldn't fit," Jay said with a shrug. "He was able to keep most of the magic, but the strength became a completely different person."

"But I saw you as a child," said Skinner.  He took a moment to think about it and then nodded to himself. "You were a brat like the rest of us."

Jay gave the other an incredulous look before rolling his eyes. "Well, yeah, dad obviously didn't become two people.  It was just the magic that broke off and used his DNA, I guess, to create another person to hold the extra genie magic."

"Is anyone on this adventure born normally?" asked Red, looking over her shoulder.  A flicker of blue wings appeared on her back, but they quickly disappeared, and she didn't even seem to notice. 

Beast let out a growling laugh. "Well, I was."

"I don't even want to know," said Carlos, his usual dry and monotone working well.  Though unfortunately it did mean they were all trying to get out of their head what Beast's parents looked like, and well, all that entailed.

"Who were your parents?" asked Beast in general.  No one answered.  Finally Jay slung his arm over the Beast and smirked.

"They're all a bit shy," he said, trying to sound reassuring.  The rest of the group gave him sideways glances.  Obviously not wanting to be associated with a weak emotion.  Jay just smirked back at them.  He'd been winding Beast up this entire time as they waited for this day.  Jay planned on surviving this, and while the rest of their group had unique skills that made them invaluable parts to get to the mirror, Beast was no different.  He had a way about him.  If any of them could convince the rest to work together, well, it would be Beast.  If it was just for a moment, just for a breath where everything was going wrong and they needed to work as a team to get out of a bind.

This belief came from one important conversation heard in whispers from the mouths of two evil women drunk off the moonshine they'd dredged together from their sidekicks.  Jay glanced over at Evie.  The story told of Maleficent being the only one to survive her trip to the mirror.  The stories lied.  Two women, one goal, and it turned out neither got what they wanted. 

"As you just heard, I am a product only of my father being a genie.  Evie is a reflection of her mother, literally.  Our friend Carlos here is the son of two big baddies, Cruella De Vil and Gaston," said Jay, pointing to reach in turn.  Carlos reached for the dark choker around his neck, said to be made of his late father's hair. "And well, our friend Red is an orphan."

"Couldn't she still be able to figure out what flower she was born of at least?" asked Beast.  Jay winced.  He had no idea how to bring up to the other boy that Red didn't know she was a fairy, and now he had just spilled the beans.  No thought to just coming out and saying it.  No moment to think whether this was really something he should just announce.  This guy had to be born of the lowest scale of intelligence.  The sort of minions that other minions looked down upon and thought of as stupid. 

"Unfortunately, with magic limited to one night, and that night being such  big seller, I haven't been able to even find out that," said Red with a shrug.  Jay tried to look chill as he looked her way, but he caught her eyes and she winked at him. 

"That book from Maleficent should help.  She's a fairy after all," said Evie with a lazy flick of her fingers. "You think we can get back to our quest now?"

They all started walking again.  Red turned back to her book, flipping through the pages now engrossed. 

Beast cleared his throat, Jay glanced at him, not sure how to go from the fairy thing.  But a laugh echoed through the alley they had walked down.  They all stopped, realizing that somehow their collective walking had somehow wandered them to the real beginning of their journey.

"Well, well, well, if isn't the Skinner.  Back for Cruella's new jacket?" asked a scathing voice. "You want to try swinging that this way, big boy?"

"Just want to walk around your cozy home this time," said Carlos, though he did give his war hammer a bit of a swing.  The hyena looked at it, looking completely unimpressed with the dangerous weapon. "You don't mind do you?"

"Of course not.  Don't let me stop you," said the hyena and with one last uneven laugh, disappeared back into the shadows. 

"So, we go in that way?" asked Jay.  The hyena had come from the shadows just slightly up and right of the door.  It wouldn't take too much force to get himself there. 

"Nope," said Carlos. "Not unless you want to land in a lava pit."

Jay backed down instantly.  Carlos swung his hammer up and then crashed it into the wooden and metal fence blocking the whole alleyway.  The thing banged and crashed, sending noise scuttling everywhere.  They all cringed, but Carlos just glared the thing like it had insulted him, lifted and swung again, this time breaking through where metal was stapled to wood and ripped it away a bit.

"Here Tarzan, let me help," teased Jay.  The Skinner handed over the weapon without a thought.  This time the entire fence buckled, and it wasn't long before a sizable hole had appeared.  Jay smiled.  It was nice to stretch his real legs for once. 

Then Skinner joined beside him.  Swinging an axe with a broken cutting edge.  Finally they had made a big enough hole and both boys took a step back, admiring their work.  Of course, that left going inside.  A faint glow of red from deep down was shown from deep under hyenas caves.  But their immediate path was blocked, impossible to see.  They could take a step forward and just fall into eternal abyss.

"Out of my way," said Evie, pushing them to the side.  A pale white light appeared in her cupped hands.  The edges breaking from the glowing circle like feathers and falling into nothingness.  She walked without pause into the darkness.  Everyone waited with baited breath for a second.  Wondering if their journey had ended before it really started.  When no cry went up, they all took a collective step forward and went into that darkness. 

Behind them the wolves howled.  Each cry toward its prey closer to their destination.  Closer to the evil that was looking to find their dreams in the Wishing Mirror. 


	5. Together We Fall

The hyena's had done a stellar job setting up their new home.  They even had bones to support their home under the city.  Of course, the place was sweltering.  Beads of sweat already were slipping down Evie's forehead and she was constantly dabbing with a handkerchief that was already starting to get soaked.  Evie gave the small flick of her wrist, and muttered some nonsense rhyme, and the thing was dry.

With a sigh, the Evie wondered when they would actually be attacked.  She tried to keep her hair looking nice, and she had to admit she was glad that she hadn't had time to enhance her mother's natural beauty.  The makeup would have been smudged just by the heat.  Evie wound her hand around a small knife in her pocket.

Not a single hyena in sight.  You'd think there'd be at least one.  Hyena's were supposed to be crafty.  Maybe not smart.  They were after all easily manipulated by Scar.  But they liked to cause chaos.  She'd think there'd be a couple nipping at their heels.   Taunting them.  Asking what they were doing.  Or what they were playing at. 

Instead there was complete silence.  No sound except for the churning of the lava pits bubbling and bursting steam into the air. 

Silence hung heavy in the air, and the longer that Evie found that nothing alive tried to attack them.  Evie took a deep breath in and forced herself to let go of her knife.  It was rather ridiculous anyway.  She was here to do magic.  This wouldn't be like with her clients where she would play coy up until the last second when she had no choice but to attack them.  Now she needed to think ahead and think strategy. 

Of course, a lot of problems came with how much she could trust the others.  She could trust that they would fight to the best of their abilities not to get killed.  But would that protect her in the long run.  They had two people who mostly fought with their hands and their strength, one person who fought with all sorts of close range weapons maybe even a far range one or two from the dart gun Carlos was taking out, and then Red who could create brute attacks with magic and also more obscure ones with potions probably. 

That left Evie who was their magic user.  Spells used to attack,  with the understanding that she also needed them to keep whatever was attacking them because she wasn't as strong as the rest of them.  Her spells would be better far range than short range.  Still, while no one had come to her rescue when that idiot grab her, no one had attacked the idiot either.

Still, it wasn't stupid humans who underestimated her that she would be dealing with.  Evie doubted very much that they would take her for granted more than once.  People with real magic were feared, always had been.

There was a snarl, like an angry dog, and everyone turned to the side, tensing and getting ready to fight.  There was then  hysterical laughter that filled the entire room and echoed through the halls. 

"Hyenas," swore Red.  She flipped a potion into her hand and threw it in the direction of the laughter.  The vial exploded at least ten feet away, a bubble of green puffing into the air.  There was silence for a few seconds before laugher again echoed through the caverns this time coming from more to the right.  Red frowned and made to throw another, but Carlos grabbed her hand.

"Don't bother. Wait until you can actually see..." The only warning was a harsh snarl that sent the Beast growling in return and Jay a few feet back and raising his hands. 

A wolf appeared out of the dense mist of the bone graveyard and in a flash was on Beast.  Red cursed and threw a spell  The blinding light had everyone making some sort of screech, and Evie found herself lifted off her feet and only a quick exclamation of a spell saved her as she almost cashed into a rock. 

Still, the blast had knocked the air out of her.  And Evie fell on her knees, wheezing and trying to blink the spots from her eyes.  With a shaky head, Evie looked around , trying to get her feet under her as her vision swam in front of her eyes.

"Eyes bright, see clear sight," snarled Evie.  Her head cleared just as she saw the hunt dog going down at a flailing Carlos. "Sunlight mark of might."

The two spells were stumbling, but they rhymed even if the words didn't fit as nicely together as the magic would prefer to create and enact the spell as precise as she wanted.  Still a bolts of light formed from where it shone out from the lava grates.  They aimed and dashed themselves against the creature, who growled in anger and was thrown off its course enough that it crashed to the side of the Carlos inside of mauling him.

This gave the skinned enough time to steady his hand enough to bring up his crossbow nd shot the beast straight in the chest.  The thing roared and made to swipe at Carlos, who caught the claws in the shoulder but was able to stumble away enough in time for Jay to come in and catch the thing by the side.  Jay was smaller, the hunting dog as big as a small horse.  It snapped, but was unable to move its head enough to catch him.  Jay continued him momentum forward and threw the dog, the beast flying a few feet, but easily catching its feet.

Evie then got a good look.  Not only was the dog almost as big as a horse, but it was fierce, the fur on the creature grey, matted darkly and slick, with foam around its lips, and fangs dark and sharp. 

The Beast crashed into the dog next.  Evie went through all the books in her head, trying to figure out what was the best spell to use.  Evie cursed herself for not actually being as smart as Jay of all people and bringing some of her own books for her.  She couldn't very well ask Red for her book.  While from what Evie knew, fairy magic wasn't all that different from human.  The only difference was that they were born of magic, with powers that ran through their blood.  Humans were more select.  Only a few were born with enough magic in them to be able to feel its movement through the world, and then only a few had a good enough grasp and understanding of how thoughts and words influenced it so that they could use the magic to influence the world. 

The dog was then coming to her.  Evie let out a yelp.

"Flight, side," said Evie, moving her hand as if to move the dog with her hand to the side.  The dog only bumped up a little, the magic hardly reacting at all to Evie's command, and the beautiful girl found herself ducking under the creature, feeling it brush against her back and the hot heat from its body seep into her as she crashed to the ground in a stumble.  Evie cursed herself for letting her mind wander, and turned around to face a creature already turning with its jaw open wide to take a bite out of her.  Evie froze, any thought of magic tangled in her tongue.

Beast rammed his hairy self to mix with the dog, tangling into a snarling pile of claws, teeth, and flying fur. 

"Potion incoming!" shouted Red.

"Shield to field the human," Evie stumbled again and cursed Red in her head.  Hopefully Red wouldn't be a moron and just throw her magic out physically instead of using the book that she had her head stuck in the entire time.  Thankfully, Red seemed to have moved on from her mistake and now was just using her potions.

The glass broke on the dog just as Beast was able to untangle himself and get out of its paws.  The dog growled and froze for a second.  Evie watched the dog carefully, not sure what the potion would do.  The thing froze itself, then sneezed and shook its body.  The dog started to shake and Red dove for cover. 

"Shield to cover the comrades from friendly fire," said Evie, and sighed as this time the magic wove with her words and covered her just in time for whatever Red had thrown to splash against the dog.  The beast howled, then stopped.  Evie watched, spells flashing through her mind, unfortunately the high adrenaline situation for some reason bringing to mind beauty spells instead of useful spells.

Evie was seriously getting irritated with herself.  How could she be so useless?  She'd been in high pressure situations before where her life was on the line.  Now was almost better.  She didn't have to listen to some self-righteous idiot going off about how he or she was doing the world a favor or how they seemed to think she did all the evil things her mother did and whatever "revenge" they were taking was completely justified.

Now she was in the prime of health, with magic easily accessible with the right words, all she could think about was how to make herself more beautiful.  That was completely useless. 

"Don't touch him!" yelled Red, and Evie saw from the corner of her eyes how Jay skidded to a halt, eyes now wearily watching the dog.  The dog was still frozen, panting and dribbling foam from his mouth.  It then panted hard and then howled, and while Evie was pretty sure it was shaky, had to set its sights on Red and was running at full speed toward the fairy.

"High jump to sky clump," said Evie, raising her hands, and wincing at the horrible spell.  The spells didn't need to be rhymed, the rhyming was just a good quick and dirty way to get the right beat of words that the magic required to get the right reaction.  Rhyming generally caught enough magic with the words to make something happen.  Using words that made sense made something along the way you were thinking happen, and body movement usually sent it the right way, but that didn't always get you the right reaction. 

Like this spell picked up the dog and threw him so he just flew a few feet in the air, his own momentum keeping him moving forward, his bright yellow eyes and teeth flashing.  Then Carlos ran under it, a flash of metal flashing as he disappeared under the monster's belly.  The wolf crashed to the ground, and all of them moved out of its way as it slid on its side leaving a trail of blood and guts painting the stone. 

Evie watched it, but the dog didn't even twitch.  Somehow, in all the confusion and daydreaming we had killed the thing. 

Then Carlos was there, over the body of the dog, his hands fisting into the things fur and starting to smoke, but he didn't seem to notice as he lifted his knife to start cutting away at it.  Before Evie could stop herself, she was over at his side.  Saying something about not being an idiot and not getting the fur off an animal that was not only ruined because of Red, but the entire body would disappear into mist in the morning.

Then we were flipped, his hand over Evies mouth to stop any magic and his blade at my throat.  His hand was raw, red, and Evie could feel something hot and biting against her mouth, probably ruining the skin, and making her vision swim while tears gathered in the corner of her eyes from the pain.  Still, as she looked up, it wasn't anger in his expression that she met.  No.  The darting wide eyes, the red face, the labored breathing, everything screamed fear. 

Carlos was lifted away from Evie, and the girl took a deep breath in and pushed herself to a sitting position as she flipped her hand and caught a mirror.  As she thought, whatever potion Carlos had got on his hands rubbed and left a nasty, splotchy, red rash.  Evie quickly did a spell that had her feeling as great as ever and fixed the problem.  This wouldn't work on deeper wounds, but this was just superficial, so reversing the magic was just a twist of the mirror to make Evie back to her beautiful reflection of how her mother looked at her age.

"Think you can do the same before Skinner goes crazy on whatever potion Red gave him?" asked Jay, holding Carlos down.  Evie couldn't use the same magic, obviously.  Carlos wasn't a reflection, he was completely his own person.  But Evie knelt beside them, and quickly cast a spell to at least get rid of the potion that was eating at his hands and anywhere else on his body. 

"Get out of the way before you actually do more damage," said Red, pushing Evie to the side, taking out her own assortment of potions.  Evie moved away, only to find herself standing next to Beast who was holding himself awkwardly and appeared to be pouting, though it wasn't very clear.

"That was horrible," Beast growled.  Evie and everyone else glanced his way even as Carlos gave a yelp of pain. "We didn't work together at all and were almost taken out by one stray dog."

"We protected each other, sort of," said Evie.  She had reacted and she was pretty sure that helped and saved them. 

"We reacted alone," snapped, growling and his Beast side actually showing through as his big eyes were squinted and his lips pulled back into an angry growl that showed off his razor sharp teeth. "We fought one by one and only acted together enough in  panic."

"I warned you about the potion didn't I?" asked Red, sitting back from where Carlos was panting on the ground.

"It's not about that," said Beast, growling at Red and leaning toward her.  Jay pushed Red back, and Carlos had enough sense to pull a sword.  Red even had another potion in her hand. Beast looked at all of them and let out a howl, which them all actually look like they were about to attack.

"You think we should attack all at once next time?" asked Evie and then took a step back as Beast turned on her.

"No," he growled, making her reach for her knives.   Then he snorted and shook his head. "We need to work together."

"Like what?" asked Evie.

"Like Beast and I go first into the fight since we fight with bare hands, Carlos only fights close if he has to, and you two girls stay back away from the fighting throwing spells and potions."

"What was with that spell threw all of us back?  Did you forget you to read?" asked Evie turning on Red.

"We shouldn't talk about this here," said Carlos, shakily getting to his feet."We're losing time, and if we start acting weak the hyenas will be attacking in seconds."

They all looked around them and started to head out toward their goal.  A silence filled the room, no hyena laughter.  No one talking, just the huff of Beast as he limped on, and Carlos switched his weapons out until he finally took out the crossbow again.

"Here," said Red, shoving something at Beast.  Beast stopped and looked down at it and then at her. "It will help with the pain."

Beast stared at the potion for a while.  Evie was pretty sure if he knew if he could trust the potion.  Evie wasn't sure about it either.  It would make sense at this point to drug one of them to be a distraction for the hyenas while the rest of them tried to get to their goal before they finished with him.  Beast took a swig anyway.  Evie sighed and continued to follow everyone.  What Beast said echoed in her head, not that she thought anything would come of it.  They already knew each others strengths and weaknesses, well, enough to go on anyway.  And they couldn't all attack at once, someone was sure to get in the crossfire of Evie's or Red's spells or Carlos's weapons.  So what were they supposed to do.

Still, with the hunt after them, it probably would have been better to get to know each other better.  To know the potions Red used and come up with something fast and clear to tell them to get out of the way.  Or something like that.

"How many in a hunt?" asked Beast, sounding resigned.

"At least fifteen dogs, can be up to twenty to start," said Carlos.

"Five to ten hunters," said Jay. "They'll be the hard ones to kill."

Silence fell over the group again.  Beast kept making growling noises deep in his throat.

No laugh built, no warning feet, just a flash of fur and what looked like a thousand gold eyes, and they found themselves surrounded by hyenas. 


	6. The Lake

They had Skinner pinned to the ground.  Jay held onto Beast's shoulder, keeping him from attacking the hyenas to free his new friend because at the moment, the hyenas were just surrounding them.  Skinner moved a little under the two that are directly pinning him to the floor, but the one on his neck growls and bites down a little.  Skinner relaxed again, and the hyenas jaw relaxed and blood trailed thinly down his neck from shallow punctures in the skin.

They all wait for the other pin to drop, no one sure yet what the hyenas game is exactly. 

"Well, well, look what we finally caught," muses one of the hyenas holding Skinner down.  There is an echoing laugh from all around as yellow bob with mirth. "This time you weren't here for one of us but brought the entire hunt at our door."

"It was coming anyway.  Someone was going to try to get to the Wishing Mirror," said Evie with a flip of her hair.  Jay wanted to grab her around her mouth to make her shut up.  Now the hyenas were aware of them.  Well, they had been aware of them before, but more in abstract, keep them penned their invading territory sort of way.  Now they would logically link them as associates of the Skinner, someone who had obviously given them a lot of grief over the years and who they probably wanted to get revenge on.

"And you're the stupid sods who are trying this year," cackled the one who'd been talking, probably the 'leader' or at least the one who took that roll this time around.  One of the hyenas close fell into hysterical laughter. "Guess you'll just have to continue without your little friend."

Red sniffed and turned away from them.  Jay was sure that she would have kicked the Skinner if she was close enough just how irrelevant the other was to them and that they could easily dispose of him without a thought. 

"Well, well, what thoughtful friends you have there," said the hyena.

"He's not a friend," said Evie.  Jay glanced back at the other girl impressed.  He would have thought besides Beast she would be their most likely to have a bleeding heart.  Jay glanced then at Beast, but surprisingly, Jay could already feel the creatures muscles relaxing under his hand into a move defensive position.  Now the most dangerous thing seemed to be hyenas.  And they were nothing to sneeze at, but hopefully they would ignore the rest of the group to have some fun with Skinner. 

After all, killing family, especially pups probably merited more than a quick death. 

"Hmm, we'll escort you to the lake than," said the main hyena and the other one broke into more hysterical laugher. 

"I'm sure we can find our own way," drawled Red with a flip of her hair.  The hyena looked at them and then at her friends who just shook their heads as if unbelieving.

"We're headed that any way.  Our way to say hello to our friend here," snarled the hyena at where Skinner was still pinned to the ground. "Plus, we wouldn't want you losing your way.  The sooner you're on the next leg of your journey, the less likely we'll get caught in the crossfire with the hunt."

There was a low growl that moved forward until the party was forced to move forward or face the teeth of the hyenas.  They all shuffled close to each other, and Jay lost sight of Carlos for a second, he checked inside is leather jacket quickly, finding the thin bag that The Skinner had been using to take out his weapons. 

It had been shockingly easy to get this off the other guy.  Now even with Skinner gone they still had the weapons.  It wasn't like Skinner was the only one who knew how to wield an ax.  Well, alright, Jay didn't think he could do much but bash the hyenas or dogs if he had an ax.  But he knew his way around sword like objects and daggers that really might as well be shivs. 

"Can you get weapons out of that bag?" echoed the Evil Queen's daughter's voice in his head.  Jay jumped a little, but quickly evened his steps and hoped that the hyenas would misunderstand and think he'd only been spooked. 

"What are you doing in my head?" Jay snapped back.  It wasn't that this had never happened to him, but because of the suppression of magic, it thankfully was only once a year.  Unfortunately his father always forced his way in, hard, fast, and quick.  Sure he would find his son planning his downfall this year.  Jay had been able to avoid his father this year, and the man wouldn't dare come looking for him when the hunt was nipping at Jay's heels. 

"Red gave me permission," said Evie, her hands carelessly moving as if she was talking out loud. The tone of the voice in his head almost became teasing. "You should really should be more careful about what you allow when making a deal with a fairy."

"I didn't get into it on purpose," Jay thought, and realized to late that Evie must have heard it as the annoying girl snorted in amusement.  "That's pathetic."

"She can use her magic when the shield is up," said Jay, the thought coming to easily to stop.  His father never had taught him how to shield his mind.  If Jay could somehow get into Evie's supposed library, that would definitely be the book he'd go for.

"Impossible," thought Evie back sharply.

"Think what you want," Jay was sure more got through to Evie, but that was the important bit. He wondered if images got through too, because it would be clear that the deal had been made midday, impossible to fake. 

Evie snorted and then sent him a glance.  The command to check if he could reach into the bag was clear in her gaze, but not echoing in his head.  Jay sighed, but it was a good idea.  He couldn't help but glance around first.  Beast was strolling, snorting and looking all around them, looking as if he was about to just explode at any moment and kill as many hyenas as he could before he was killed himself. 

Red was looking her usual cool self, though the book was no longer in sight.  Jay stuck his hand into the bag and felt nothing.  Figuring that it might take until he was going out of the bag he took his hand out, trying to have his hands cupped so they would grab whatever weapon would come.  Nothing came up.  Jay swore in his head.  He reached in again and thought about the ax he had seen The Skinner holding earlier.  He felt nothing and pulled his hand out fast again.

Nothing.

"Dang," thought Jay, huffing.  What was the trick to getting out the weapons out of the bag?  It couldn't be Skinner's magic.  Both Cruela and Gaston were known for possessing no magic of their own. So how did a person with no innate magic within themselves use it?

Suddenly he saw Red smirk, and her hand slip in what Jay supposed to be a subtle move to grab a vial of orange potion.  Though it seemed to be subtle enough to fool the hyenas.  Evie herself was fondling a dagger.

"We'll be attacking the hyenas as soon as we reach the lake," said Evie.

"It's dangerous enough.  Why would you fight directly against the hyenas who are leading us into a trap anyway?" demanded Jay. Sure he looked angry enough to get some of the hyenas suspicious.

"Because we need those weapons," said a steady voice sounding almost bored but clear in her intentions. Red gave Jay a smirk before looking ahead of her again.  Jay tensed realized that they were heading toward a suspiciously dark part of the cave where he was sure he saw the reflection of light on what was supposed to be the ground. "So, we entered a bargain did we?  Can I really do magic when the shields are up?"

Jay sent Evie a glare. It was one thing to let he Shut In know about Red's ability with magic.  It was another to so carelessly let Red herself know about it.  All magic was supposed to be suppressed and impossible to use.  Surviving without it meant that many magical bad guys were forced to take on more human or mundane body types and ways of surviving than they would normally.  Fairy wings, at least those made of gossamer magic strands that allowed flight in a body that shouldn't be able to support it, those things disappeared.  So even innate magic like making deals with fairies, a magic they wouldn't be able to suppress if back with everyone else on the main land. 

"We're doing this," said Evie. "Everyone's seen the logic and agreed but you.  Do you really think you can beat whatever trap the hyenas have laid if you abandon us?"

Jay scowled.  He might be able to beat the hyenas, but he wouldn't get to the mirror.

"And you?" he demanded angrily. "Why are you saving The Skinner?  Red's doing it for the weapons.  Beast is doing it because he's a bleeding heart.  Why did you?"

"Because he's the only one I trust," said Evie, not even realizing what she was saying.  That was the only reason she would say something like that. "I know he knows how to treat and asset of the team.  Beast is too caring.  Red has minions she's used to sacrificing.  And you're known for stabbing people you've made deals with in the back.  Carlos has always known how to take care of people that help him."

"You slut," thought Jay.

"I could just let Red know how deep her control over you is.  Then we wouldn't even need to have this conversation," thought Evie with a smirk.  Jay saw red as anger boiled in his blood.  How dare she, especially when Red could still hear them.

"Whore!"

At that moment the hyenas holding The Skinner were thrown back a foot, yelping as they did.  Red threw her potion to the back of the group, and as they jumped, both Jay and Beast caught them.  Jay miscalculated in his haste and caught the first by its jaw, wincing as teeth sunk into his hand, he pulled down abruptly and before the thing hit the ground, it's neck had been snapped and its jaw hung half off its face as he turned to catch another with slippery hands and throw it far from them.

"Useless crap," snapped Red, throwing her book so it flew toward the water.  Before Jay could wonder what would happen when Maleficent learned what happened to her book, another hyena was on him.  This one he stepped on, crushing its head with his feet while he turned and punched on right into Beast's claws by a lucky stroke of luck.

"Make sure you keep moving backward toward the lake, numbskulls," echoed Red's peeved voice in Jay's head.  Jay glanced in her direction as the fairy threw another Red potion in the air.  this one let out a plume of red smoke that made a lot of them cough. Pain laced and flared in Jay's mind, just for a brief second that made him lash out at the thing going at him.  The pain disappeared into his mind as he struck out against the thing that was causing it.  the creatures just seemed to keep coming and Beast soon disappeared into the blur of fur, blood, and claws.

Jay's foot slipped on something behind him.  A hyena ran at him and he fell backwards and then kept going on the cold ground, sliding and slipping as he grappled with the creature.  Jay felt teeth around his neck, fear tugged at him as he realized that his hands were too far away to get the jaws and stop it from ripping into his throat. 

A bolt went through the things throat, and it went still and fell.

Jay turned to see Carlos reloading his crossbow while turning to run down what Jay realized was an ice path.  He turned to see that they were at least five feet onto the ice path.  The hyenas stood at the edge of it, glaring, growling, and pacing.

A hand with sharp claws wrapped around Jay and pushed him in the opposite direction.  Jay almost tried to attack Beast, but thankfully the other boy had been smart enough to throw him, so all Jay ended up doing was flailing uselessly as he tried to get his feet under him so he could follow the rest of them away from the hyenas.

With his feet constantly slipping, he watched as Red seemed to be skating, Evie appeared to be running without a single slip, and Beast was the only one having any trouble but his claws digging in to get some grip on the ice.  Jay slipped again, this time going all the way down and he punched down on the ice hard to stop himself from slipping off the path, only to call himself an idiot as the ice cracked and he instantly realized he didn't know how thick the ice was, and he had no idea how to swim. 

A sigh and a laugh escaped him as he fortunately didn't break the ice completely and was even able to shakily force himself to his feet.  Then another crack boomed and Jay felt the ice under him break apart and he hit the water hard, instantly sinking in his leather clothes, cold water hitting him so hard that he lost his breath.  Then he felt something against his leg.  Not a creature, but warmth.  He paused in his flailing, confused, until the water started to burn.  Jay kicked, air lost from his lungs.

Then something enveloped him, and while Jay at first flailed with his punches, he felt a powerful pull upward from the thing surrounding him, and the while the thing might be dragging him down, Jay couldn't figure it out himself, so it didn't really matter. 

Then it was as if they were being pulled up by a crane. And in moments they were up out of the water.  Jay collapsed on the ground, shivering, his legs giving out from under him as he coughed and spluttered on the ground.

"He's not getting far on those legs," said Red.  Jay clutched at his legs and then winced.  He spluttered as he tried to see if there was any blood. "We don't have time to even attempt to see if we can fix it."

Jay winced.  Unlike Skinner who had logically made sense to try and to save as he was the only one who could get the weapons out of the bag, Jay was just the second heavy hitter on this little adventure, and he was useless if he wasn't even able to use his legs.  Jay clutched at the bag, but doubted he could convince the others to save him.  They'd just kill him for it.  Evie obviously would be happy to do it after how he had to be tricked to save her boyfriend.

Big, stinky, wet, and hairy arms circled around him and picked him up.

Red raised an eyebrow and then looked at Evie.  The shut-in then turned back toward the path of ice they were on.

"A path of ice to aid our flight," said Evie with a wave of her hands, and they were off again, though at a more sedate pace.  Jay tried not to breathe through his nose.  The smell was almost unbearable.  Still, his gambit in bringing the bleeding heart was really paying off.  Any other situation, he would have been left behind for dead, though who knew what would happen once they reached the other side of the lake.

When they finally got to the end, Beast carefully placed him on the stone of the other side of the lake as Evie created a light source since this side of the cave apparently didn't have heat vents. 

Jay winced and glared at Beast who had tried to touch his legs.  With a sigh Jay looked down.  The pain he'd been able to push basically out of his mind with adrenaline before was now making itself known.  Where his pants ended, just below his knees, not a look, just ill fitting, were covered in red with bumps, raw skin that disappeared under his pants.

"If we're going to save him, it might not be a good idea to cut his clothes off," said Red, her wings fluttering behind her, and for once not disappearing into nothing.

Jay then noticed Skinner and looked at the other boy incredulously as he realized that the other boy was shucking off his pants, then he realized that Beast also seemed to be taking off his oddly nice clothes for a creature like being.

"I need them to take their clothes off to dry them," said Evie, her voice echoing in his head as she walked toward him.  Jay stiffened and glared. Evie only smirked at him as she sat beside him.  She muttered something, and his clothes except underwear disappeared from his body.

"That's a nasty burn," said the Skinner, coming to stand over Jay.  Jafar's son glared at him, but Skinner just looked at him as if he was bored. "I can't treat that."

"Well, no kidding," thought Jay.

"Actually, he often helps me when I get hurt with a client or from mother," said Evie, her thoughts echoing in his, reminding him that she was still hanging around his thoughts.  Evie st next to him, laying a hand right over his burns. "The water is actually boiling hot, which is why I created the ice path.  You must have sunk deep enough to hit the boiling water, though Beast says he never got burned.  Do you mind if your father receives your wounds?"

"What?" asked Jay, his gaze going from suspicious to wide in amazement.

"You said you were a reflection of your father right?" asked Evie.  Jay rolled his eyes.

"I was created to take the magic his suppressed state couldn't handle," said Jay. "More like a clone."

"Close enough I think," said Evie. "So, do you mind?"

"No, obviously," said Jay.  Evie almost looked disappointed in his answer, and Jay wanted to snap at him.  But then she stared muttering again, and all of a sudden, almost all of his pains disappeared.  When he looked down on himself, the burns were gone, so were the scrapes he'd acquired.

"Now that's a handy trick," said Red, coming to look down on Jay.  Even The Skinner had come over to see what the fuss was about and let out a whistle. 

"Only works on people like Jay and I who are basically the same as our parents," said Evie, this time talking out loud. Red rolled her eyes, and the Skinner rolled his eyes and turned away, showcasing a back covered in crisscrossing scars. Not just battle scars, they all had those.  No, these were obviously whip marks, and not just a couple like Jay had.  Skinner was covered in them.  All old, the skin already healed over them, but the signs of them as clear as day, probably never to really disappear. "I'm going to go dry out that clothing."

"You alright Jay?" asked Beast, offering Jefar's son his hand.  Jay smiled shakily and let the creature drag him up onto his feet.

"Yeah, thank you," said Jay.  Beast smiled and nodded and then looked at Evie.

"Those girls, they're really nice people at heart aren't they?" asked Beast.  Jay tried to stop from rolling his eyes. "Better than me."

"Better than any of you boys," said Red with a smirk their way. "We weren't stupid enough to dive into boiling water like you three."

"No you saved us with those beautiful wings," said Beast, his gave resting on her admittedly gorgeous wings.  Her wings fluttered in pride, as she put her hands on her hips. Then she checked a locket around her neck. "We shouldn't stay here long.  It's only eleven, but who know what else we'll have to face on our journey."

They all nodded, and for a second Jay couldn't help but be hopefully that the path to the Wishing Mirror was more than just a half baked dream they were all desperate to reach.  Though it was nice to know that his connection to his father could be used against the man instead of simply the other way around.  Jay had always known it was possible, just not how it could have been possible. 

Maybe they could work as a team and make it.  Jay looked at Evie, the girl was stepping back from their clothes with a frown on her face.  She had somehow done what he knew they had to do.  She had worked together, not willing to sacrifice a partner when it became convenient for her.  Jay knew that was needed, and yet, he had almost fallen for the trap.

Still, his deal with Red still bothered him.  With a sigh he shook his head.  He was back in fighting form, and he wouldn't underestimate the Shut-in again, or her ability to manipulate people even though she had been isolated most of her life. 

Jay sighed and leaned against Beast.  The other boy hardly glanced at him, apparently lost in his own thoughts.  And Jay just sighed and closed his eyes, not to sleep, but simply allow his thoughts to hopefully gather in a way that made sense. 


	7. Scar

Evie ran her hand on the boy's clothing.  Perfect.  Completely dry.  The guys really were perfect morons.  All three had ended up in the water one after the other, leaving Evie to create a rope from nothing and then have it ripped out of her mind by a cursing Red who took to the sky on her wings.  Now the fairy seemed fascinated.  Red had carefully caught her wings in her hands and was carefully following the color.

At first, Evie was ready to summon a mirror so Red could get a good view of her wings.  Red must not have thought to summon them before tonight, or had thought she didn't have them.  After all, there was a distinct lack of horns adorning her head.  It wouldn't be much of a jump to assume that she had another malformation wasn't that hard to imagine. 

Then Evie remembered this was the same idiot who tried to throw Maleficent's book into the boiling water.  Evie understood,  sort of, not being able to do the spell right away.  Alright, no she didn't.  Evie knew that she could do magic so easily because she was essentially a being of magic and could naturally feel the magic around her and wasn't limited by magic that she understood instinctively, just by her knowledge and how much magic was around her to draw upon.  Red was limited by the fact that she didn't have the books before today, and didn't have horns that allowed her to store her natural magic. 

Still, that was no excuse to toss a priceless magical artifact.  If it hadn't been for Evie's quick thinking, the book and its secrets would have been lost forever.

"Are you an idiot?" Evie found herself saying before she could really think about what she was doing.  As Red turned a slightly peeved glare toward her, Evie summoned a small hand held mirror, and pretended to fix her completely ruined hair.  They better find the mirror, or she wouldn't be able to face herself. "You just tossed a book that could have all sorts of new potions that you could use."

"Seems useless to me," said Red with a shrug. "I wasn't able to do any of the spells. And it's not like you could use it either."

"Did you even try any of the spells?" demanded Evie. "I didn't hear you mumble even one."

"Just because you didn't hear it, doesn't mean that I didn't say it," said Red, her bored disdain starting to morph into something a lot more hostile.

"Perhaps it's because she can't read," came a lazy drawl from the darkness.  Everyone stopped what they were doing, and turned to the voice.  From out of the darkness, Scar sauntered, his eye not the only thing scarred. "This place is surprisingly ignorant of everything and anything."

"Scar, you're looking as thin as ever," said Carlos.  He was slipping his shirt back on, muscles rippling with his own scars, as he passed Jay, he ripped the brown bag from Jefar son's hands as he sauntered toward the rather pathetic looking lion. "Still hiding away from the hyenas?"

"And you?  Looks like the hyena's were able to get their teeth into you this time around," said Scar.  Somehow, despite his thin and ragged look, they all took a step back as he sauntered toward them.  Scar must have noticed because his smile turned completely predatory. "Well, well, so this is the group going for the Wishing Mirror this year. Who is the most desperate of this little group I wonder."

"Why?  You going to make a try for it?" asked Beast, his voice a growl.  Evie glanced at the creature.  He sounded very suspicious of the lion, which for once actually showed that he might have some sort of brains in his head.

"No, I'm the guardian of it," said Scar.  All of them snorted out disbelieving snorts.  He chuckled and shook his head at them like he held all the answers. "And why do you have such a hard time believing me?"

"Are we really supposed to believe we're at the end of journey already?" asked Red with a click of her tongue. "Don't make me laugh cripple.  You get in our way and we will end you.  Won't be any sweat off our brows."

"Think of me more as your last quest giver," said Scar with that smirk of his. They all looked skeptical, but Evie couldn't help but notice that no one had tried to kill the lion yet.  No, they were all hanging on his every word. Scar's eyes passed from person to person, as if staring into their souls.  Evie glanced over at Carlos who caught her eyes and gave a small shake of his head, it seemed even he wanted to hear what the sly snake would want to say. "Only one of you will make it past this point.  As to get to the Wishing Mirror, the other person must now murder everyone else."

Evie sneezed, actually grabbing her arm to stop herself from going for her dagger.  With this group, if they did decide to attack, she wouldn't be dead if they got close enough to touch her.  No, in this instance she should take her own advice and stick to her magic.

"And the Hunt?" asked Red.

"Well, you do have to face it on the way back, but I'm sure that the hyenas will be a good distraction, if you play your cards right of course," said Scar.  Evie decided to freeze the lion.  Best to make him stop talking so they could think rationally without his voice influencing their thoughts.  But then she realized it was really hard to move her mouth, she could hardly let out a grunt.

"Interesting," said Red, glancing over at everyone else."Wouldn't this be cheating?"

"I am the guardian, and you all did seem concerned about the Hunt catching up.  I'm just logically finding the person who would have won this little contest anyway and giving you a little head start," said Scar.

"And how do I know you're not lying?" asked Red, flipping one of her potions in her hands.

"And what would that accomplish?" asked Scar, actually lying down. "If the Wishing Mirror is further on then I'm hardly going to go get it and it would make more sense for me to try and sweet talk my way into your group.  Not turn you all on each other."

"Maybe like the hyenas you just want to kill The Skinner and just don't care about the others," said Red, flipping the potion. 

"I have nothing against Carlos," said Scar with a shrug. "He kills the creatures that constantly hound me and killed me in the first place. It's just that he and the beautiful blue girl seem to have a bound of some sort.  Jay and the monster appear to be protecting each other.  So that you as the only sane member of this little group left that will kill without hesitation.  Truth be told, all I want is a show."

Red looked Scar over as if considering what he was actually saying.  Evie tried to connect with the other girl through their minds again, but Red easily blocked her.  Evie couldn't believe this.  Red was supposed to be some sort of drug lord wasn't she?  How could she allow herself to be so easily manipulated. Scar was obviously lying, and once dead, Red would be facing whatever trials to get to the Wishing Mirror and the Hunt all by herself.

The girl swayed from side to side, while letting the potion in her hand go from hand to hand.  Evie felt her mouth going dry, waiting for Red to decide if killing her companions would be beneficial to her. 

With a slow step, Red sauntered up to Beast, and run her hand along his fur as if petting him.  She frown and then sighed, glancing to where Scar had come to stand a few feet away.  Then Red carefully uncapped the potion she had been holding and held it under her nose and giving it a sniff.  She held that breath for a second and then let it out as a long sigh.  She carefully started to sprinkle a little on the Beast's head, watching him carefully as if studying a particularly lovely painting.

"And what will this do?" asked Scar, his eyes looking seriously as he tried to see what would happen. "It doesn't seem to be taking affect."

There was a roar, and Evie watched as Red swung out, catching Scar by the mouth with her staff. Red pushed the big cat away, he snarled at her and she just smirked, giving him a swift jab in the underbelly when he jumped to attack her.  Red watched the lion as he stumbled, clearly not at all worried about what she saw of the lion.  She took out a potion from wherever she was keeping them and also a syringe she had in her other hand.

With a flourish she took out the potion and drew the liquid inside.  With an air of uncaring she knelt by the unmoving, but breathing, form of the lion and jammed the needle into his body and emptied whatever the potion was into him.

"I gave Beast something that would enhance his senses.  It's mildly addictive, so I didn't think he'd take it voluntarily," said Red and then threw a potion onto the floor that then exploded into the air.

"And Scar?" Beast got out. Evie slowly felt her muscles relaxing.  She dug her finger into her muscles. 

Red gave a small shrug.

"He's detoxing now," said Red and then snorted. "Did the moron really think that I wouldn't know the magic you can use with one of my potions?"

"Really, what kind of potion would do what you're talking about?" asked Evie. "I mean, you're talking about using magic that paralyzed us right?"

"It's one of more my potent mixtures.  Causes the nose to be more sensitive and mild hallucinations when you take it and is horribly addictive," said Red. "Really, I'm doing a favor by detoxing him.  He was probably using what little he could to get his stash lately, and now he'll have more money so he can fatten up."

"And then come back later for a taste," said Jay with a smirk.  Red raised an eyebrow at him, but otherwise didn't contradict him.

"You telling me the truth about that needing you later Jay?" asked Red. "And what did you mean it had to do with Maleficent?  You are apparently bond by a fairy swear to tell me all you know about her."

Jay smirked and shrugged.  Evie caught it, and also the flash of green in his eyes.  She was on him in a second.

"Interesting," she said.  The two met, eye to eye.  Neither of them blinking.  Evie could see the green flecks in Jefar's eyes.  It was proof that he was under a fairies promise.  A strong spell that tied him to his word, but there was no real way to check if Evie's theory that he was also another promise was true or not.  Jay shrugged, his palms turning up, showing a flash of burn marks on his hands. 

Evie caught his hands.  Everyone seemed to realize that it was a serious moment, and while they gathered around, they didn't disturb. The palms of Jay's hand were seared with the glyphs of an old warning.  Whatever he had hinted to Red had just been enough to convince Red that killing them wasn't a good idea, but had been enough to send a warning of what breaking his oath could mean.

The fact that he could even try to break his word meant that there was quite a bit of magic in him.  For once Evie could see that he had the potential of a true genie, even if he was apparently just the muscle. 

"Release him from his bound," said Evie to Red. The fairy raised a disbelieving eyebrow and looked Evie over.

"And why would I do that?" demanded Red.  Jay was also looking at Evie in shock.  It wasn't like Evie was trying to do him a favor.  It was just that without getting rid of the promise, well, they wouldn't know something that was obviously important to their quest.

"Because I would probably be able to trick whatever other fairy got Jay to promise not to talk about it," said Evie.  Red looked between them and her lips thinned in irritation, obviously waiting for something to happen.

"Fine, whatever," said Red, probably assuming that she would easily be able to trick Jay into another agreement.  Evie didn't really think that this was much of a leap in logic.  How had Jay incited all those riots?  He was clearly a few cards short of a full deck. There was a chance he was even thicker than Beast.  Who knew, maybe Beast was a mastermind and just pretending to be an trusting idiot. 

It would be a good plan. 

"I release thee Jay from your word of honor. It shall be as if it never happened, no words or goods exchanged and friendship still understood between us," said Red, though she stumbled over some of the wording and looked a little lost for a second whether she was supposed to bow or not. 

  1.   The only time on this Island that friendship was used without a sneer was by fairies when speaking of alliances.  The ones born off the island didn't even bat an eyelash at using the word.  They knew and had always referred to alliances as friendships.  It was simply the fairy way.  A tool of manipulation that the younger generation scorned because unlike their parents, they were not surrounded by naive fools who would believe in friendship.  On the island, using friends in a sentence was more of a death sentence even if you didn't mean it. 



Evie followed the spell in and while her mind played with the idea of friendship, she was able to just completely destroy any signs of promises kept between him and fairies.  Evie smiled.  This was certainly an ego boost.  Breaking promises, even by using another broken promise, was a very delicate bit of mind magic.  Evie could have easily shattered Jay completely.  Left him a drooling husk with no thoughts at all. Instead she had actually succeeded.

"Well?" asked Red, sounding impatient.

"They had to work together," said Jay.  Evie let out a sigh, another good sign.  Jay was still able to talk.  She hadn't disconnected the various parts of his brain leaving him with his thoughts but no way t express them.

"Yes, you already said that," said Red with a roll of her eyes. "What does that mean?  And what does the Wishing Mirror need to be like that?"

"Two women, one goal," said Jay, still being cryptic.  Beast actually seemed to lose his temper and hit Jay on the head with his paws. "Maleficent wasn't the only who got her wish in the end that first time.  They went with the rest of the group, casually sacrificing the rest of the group, but when they got to the end, the Hunt on their heels, Maleficent was going to leave the evil queen to fall into an abyss when the Evil Queen revealed that she had just wanted a child.  Turns out their goals were the same.  Maleficent was unable to nurture a flower to birth as it would need constant magic for more than one day.  According to them, they both got their wishes because once Maleficent saved Evil Queen they found themselves in the same room as the Wishing Mirror."

There was a length of silence.  Evie shook her head, that story didn't make any sense.

"But we've saved each other tons of times and haven't gotten to the Wishing Mirror," said Evie.  They had been helping each other more than any respectable villains should have ever. "And I was made from the reflection in her mirror, and Maleficent doesn't have a child."

Jay shrugged. "All I know is what I heard, and that after the lady's noticed me, Maleficent used that green eye thing from telling anyone."

"She might have lost her daughter anyway," said Carlos. "My mother said that after Maleficent got her wish, she disappeared into her lair for over a year.  Hardly anyone heard a whisper from her."

"Yeah, but you think that people would know that my mother also went on that trip and that was how I was born.  Not a reflection," said Evie. "Those trips are not ever kept under the radar, and hers is especially famous for how it almost broke the most powerful evil villain ever."

"What does it matter?" asked Beast. "As Evie pointed out, we're already friends.  We will get there fine as we continue to become closer as a group."

With a slight giggle, Carlos was the one who started the laughter.  Soon all the children of villains were laughing, even Beast started to laugh also though he looked confused as to why they were.  Evie knew she was wishing that she was laughing over how ridiculous it was that they were all working together and not just doing what was most convenient for them to reach the Wishing Mirror.  But, if what Jay said was true, technically, they could kill everyone in the group but two people and still reach the mirror.  And what was the point of saving Jay besides also making sure they had a heavy hitter in Beast since he immediately dove to save Jay, and then Skinner dove, and then Evie created a rope that Red grabbed to pull them all up.

Beast was right, they were acting like some sort of goody goody team, and everyone seemed to be realizing this since the laughter petered out and everyone refused to look each other in the eyes.

"So, Red, you can't read?" asked Jay teasingly, apparently feeling overly confident now that he no longer had a convent with her.

Red just glared at him, her eyes turning green with the promise of binding him to her word at the earliest opportunity.

"I could teach you," said Evie, making those green eyes look toward.  Evie smiled, waiting for her eyes to turn back to their normal shade. "I taught Carlos.  No one could be slower than him."

"Hey," said the boy, going through his weapons again, hefting them from hand to hand as he did so.

"And what would you want in exchange?" asked Red, a smirk flashing in her eyes.

Evie thought about it for a second.  Mostly just trying to think of the right wording.

"I think it's a playful sport without meaning or promise," said Evie.  Red looked at her and then laughed.

"It's getting late," said Carlos, throwing his weapons over one shoulder, and looking toward the darkness of the cave. "We should get going."

They all nodded.  Evie summoned her mirror and gave herself a quick once over, before taking out Maleficent's book and starting to wander toward Red.  She noticed that Beast was leaning over Red, and that the fairy was frowning, but as Evie walked toward them, Beast left, pocketing a potion Red handed him absentmindedly.

"He already addicted?" joked Evie. 

"Apparently he already took it 'medicinally'," said Red, using air quotes, though staring at the ground, seemingly lost in thought. "He said my heart is beautiful.  What does that even mean?"

"I have no idea," said Evie, watching as Red twisted a strand of hair in her fingers, Evie noticed that the ends were horribly split. "But I think I know a pretty simple spell that will fix that hair.  Give it a little volume, maybe some layers..."

"Uh, no," said Red with a chuckle and a roll of her eyes, moving her head away even as she pointed to the book in Evie's hand. "Let's actually try to keep focused on the things that matter alright?"

The two girls actually giggled, and of course that was the moment that a dense fog of black covered the group, completely obscuring their sight. 


	8. Caves

Jay completely froze as the darkness consumed then.  And then cried out when something was stuck in his back.  He punched out, but hit nothing.  Pain throbbed into the back of his head, this definitely more than the flesh wounds from before.  Jay cursed the darkness and was about to demand that either Evie or Red at least fess up to using such an underhanded tactic.

A hand appeared to cover his mouth.  Jay fought against it, when a sprit sprite appeared before him.  The creatures were terrifying, though not for any logical reason.  They only appeared as floating, ornate masks.  This one with a white base, with bright almost neon colors twisting a lazy path along the side of the face, tendrils of color swirling over the other to curl in ringlets around the cheeks, eyes, mouth, and nose. The eyes themselves were outlined in white and yellow.

In complete darkness, somehow this creature was bright as the moon.  Shinning out where no light existed.  That's when Jay saw it, as if it was a specter on the edge of the light of the mask.  Just the hint it might be human in shape.  Jay tried to push himself forward to attack, to finally take control and end this farce.  Only to have the hands holding him become completely restricting. 

Fighting back the tears that automatically gathered at the his eyes, Jay reached up, only for his hands to pass through nothing.  He reached for his mouth and then grimaced as his own hands ran over his lips.  Spirit Sprites only came out during the Hunt.  They were more often seen in the streets, moving and bobbing, watching and seeming to disappear into nothing.  They didn't always just bob, watching impassively as the carnage took the lives of the people on the Isle.  Once in awhile they would save someone, give them a boost when they needed it or a warning whistle.  But then there were times when they would hinder, trip a fleeing minion or lock a door you were trying to open.

The shape slowly became more and more clear, though it was still just a dark silhouette, it had the distinct gate, look, and feel of a hunter.  The way it moved, sure, proud.  It's dress, rough leather, a weapon held in his hand casually with no fear or subtly.  A dog than appeared in silhouette beside it, sniffing and weaving, actually paying attention to what was around it.

Jay stopped moving completely, eyes riveted to the two.  Alright, if the darkness was the girl's doing, than it was a good idea, even though he would rather have one of them tell him in some small way.  He didn't think that just because he no longer had a spoken contract with Red that they couldn't.  At least Evie shouldn't.  Jay had heard before that it was easier to break into a mind that you had already been inside. 

The hunter slowly made his way past, though even after that it seemed to be an eternity before the fog disappeared and with it, the Spirit Sprite.  The whole group appeared to let out a collected breath.  Jay gripped his shoulder, his tongue clicking as he held onto his shoulder.   Pain laced through his entire body, making him shiver, but Jay just bit his lip.  He'd been shot with something that now stuck in his back.  His instincts had him gripping it, but a vague understanding of his father screaming at him to just suck it up and not show any pain.

Jay took a deep breath in and let it out in a rush.  No need to freak out, it would only cause a panic. Jay tried to do as he been taught, concentrate on the wound, try to assess how bad it actually was and from there figure out how to stop the bleeding or spread of poison or whatever in order to save himself.  After all, while at the moment Jay was a separate person from Jefar, he also held the magical strength and very essence of the now freed from him

If only the loving good people of Auradon had freed Jefar from his shackles to the lamp before they turned him human.  It would have meant that he didn't split in half, that he wasn't half a soul constantly looking to make himself complete.

"Don't move," said Red, her hand on his back.  Jay froze, not sure where this moment would lead.

"What are you doing?" grumbled Beast from the side.  Jay dared a glance his way, but he was looking his usual fluffy self, which since he was wet and bleeding was actually pretty impressive.  Something was thrust into his neck, and before Jay could grab Red and snap her neck with his bare hands.  Red easily dodged him and Jay felt his body slumping to the ground, whatever the potion maker had made turning his entire body loose, as if his bones and muscles had been turned into mush. 

"We need him to be able to look him over.  Jay would never allow us to just help him," said Red.  Beast made a sort of huffing noise and Red sighed. "Oh, calm down.  I give him the antidote and he's up in under a minute.  We don't and we fight him until the sun is up on how we're going to deal with it and how we're really not interested in killing him.  I have the same problem with the fairies who work with me, which is stupid because they're my minions and I have no reason to kill them."

"You shouldn't do something without telling someone first," grumbled Beast, though he sat back on his haunches to watch Red work.  Except that Red took a step back and let The Skinner take over.  Jay tried to watch them as well as she could.  It was hard to when he couldn't even move his head. The Skinner was very technical in his work, Jay didn't even feel any pain, though he had a feeling that had more to do with Red's spell than anything else. 

When The Skinner stepped back, letting Red pour on one of her potions and then replaced again by Evie.  By the end of it all, Red was back and injecting another potion into him.  As soon as Jay started to have feeling, he rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers. Beast picked up Jay in his arms.

"Good idea," said Red. "We've wasted enough time with these distractions.  Let's get going."

Jay found it more than a little embarrassing that he was forced to be held, and more than a little irritated that he couldn't move like Red said he would and was forced to get carried by Beast.

"Can you read?" asked Beast after some hesitation.  Jay grunted, working his jaw a little.

"You yelled at me for what I wrote on that propaganda poster right?" asked Jay, his words a little slow and slurred, but still able to get out.

"Well yeah," growled Beast with a grimace. "But do you know anything besides swear words and derogatory phrases towards the rulers of Aurodan."

"My dad is obsessed with looking proper and classics as he calls them," said Jay, starting to move his body.  Evie created a light to shine their way past the area and into the darkness in the very back.  He noticed the Beast starting to make a question and stopped him. "I don't want to talk about them."

"Oh, alright, probably not the right time anyway," said Beast with a shrug looking off to the side like a forlorn puppy.

"Hey, Evie," said Jay, pushing himself out of Beast's hands, rolling his shoulders, cracking his neck, and stretching his legs as he walked along with everyone else.  The shut-in looked at him sideways from where she was checking herself out in the mirror again.  She immediately looked back at her mirror, the light moving into her view so it lit her up nicely. "Think you can actually teach Red some spells?"

The shut-in glared at him and snorted.

"You get knocked in the head or are you just stupid?" asked Evie, pushing some of her hair out of her face.  Really, it was rather pathetic to see someone who was notoriously twisted and deformed allowing so much of her attention to be put on improving her fake looks. "This isn't the best time or place to teach Red how to read."

"Well, no obviously," said Jay with a roll of his eyes.  Evie snorted and looked back to her mirror.  Jay glared at her.  That wasn't what he meant, obviously. 

"I think he meat to actually read some of the spells to Red," said Skinner.  Jay met the other's eyes before looking away. They definitely had something going on between them.  Evie glanced and didn't quite smile at Skinner, but she did nod in agreement and take out Maleficent's spell book. 

"I can't believe you took that from her," said Beast with a soft voice.  Jay rolled his eyes.  When he had stolen it, Beast had been just as uncertain. Jay shrugged. "So, Skinner, where did you get that ba..."

Jay grabbed onto Beast's arms as the creature started to fall into the abyss that apparently went down.  Rocks were all around on the ground, and Jay picked one up and threw it.  The rocks knocked down, bump, by bump until it hit the bottom.  Beast slowly walked from the edge, and this time both girls said a spell that lit up the entire area.  Of course, the ground went further and further down into nothing. 

There was a collective sigh between the whole group.  Still, Jay couldn't help but think that somehow they had gotten off easily so far on this trip.  There was nothing so far that would have led him to believe that anyone couldn't have survived this long.  After all, one measly fight with the Hunt, hyenas who were going to let them go, a trek across an easily to overcome boiling lake, Scar who didn't count, a fog, and now a cliff. 

"Well, it has an end," said Beast as the rock hit something.

"That clears that up," said Evie and then they were all in the air suddenly.

"Do you people even know what magical consent is?" asked Beast. Jay just looked at the other incredulously and then rolled his eyes.

"It's not like we like in Auradon," said Evie inspecting her nails even as she slowly lowered them sections by section down into the darkness.  Red lit a bottle and dropped it down the cave, light filled the darkness beneath them, spreading out.

"Great, now we're going to burn," muttered Jay. 

"Don't be stupid," said Red, taking a sip from a glowing yellow vial of something. "It won't burn us, not this time of the year."

"How do you even know this magic if you can't use it?" asked Beast.  Evie rolled her eyes and actually started doing what Red asked her to, and read the spells out loud to Red.  The fairy rolled her eyes and her wings fluttered a little making Evie gasp and redo the spell and glare at the girl before telling Red something boring about magic. Then she turned to Beast and said something that made sense to even Jay.

"I studied it," she said.  Beast must either not have tried magic or had absolutely none of his own because that was it about magic. Yeah, Evie used magic on a whim, and she spoke spells like they were as easy as breathing, but that was because she probably only had those books to stare at all day.  She knew the theory inside and out and probably did spells without thinking and reached for magic instinctively where others might draw away.

"I got the sack from Jasper," said Skinner.  Beast jumped a little and everyone looked sideways at him. "You know, before he tried to find the Wishing Mirror.  Only thing they found was this bag, and since then the only one who can use it is me."

"I thought Gaston was your dad," said Red with a snort.  Jay felt his breath out slowly when their feet finally touched the ground, grateful that there really was an end to it. 

"Well, yeah," said Skinner. "But I didn't get anything from him but a talent for killing cute furry animals and then recreating them as stylish what evers."

"And that necklace," said Jay, watching as Skinner ran his hand around his neck. He half wanted to point out that what Skinner described was actually exactly what Cruella's henchmen did.  But there didn't seem to be a point.

Once again, the girls said a spell, their voices mixing the words together, and light lit up the entire space.  They watched as the beginning area was filled with light and then the space became smaller and smaller until it had shrunk to the size of a dwarf. And then the light kept going, as in, it looked as if it had been drawn away, the light sucked into the tight place and then leaving them in complete darkness. 

The girls started talking in unison this time and light filled the area only to appear to once again get sucked out through the tiny gap.

"What's going on now?" asked Jay with an exaggerated sigh. "Did you forget how to make a simple lighting spell?"

There was no answer, and Jay glanced to the side where he couldn't see anything but darkness.  For the thousandth time he wished he could just teleport himself wherever he wanted to go.  To the Wishing Mirror or to Auradon or just away.  With just a wish to himself he could go anywhere on island, and there was nowhere on this place where hounds and hunters wouldn't tear him apart.  And now in the dark he waited for light with the one who had shot him just a few minutes ago.

"We can't just keep standing here," said Jay with a sigh. "We only have so many hours before we have to get to the Wishing Mirror."

There was shuffling and Jay found himself reaching out and grabbing onto Skinner who jumped and tried to stab him, but he was just as uncoordinated and with his increased strength Jay was able to easily restrain him in an arm lock. 

"Cut it out boys," said Red, and both glanced from their struggling to see two sets of glowing eyes staring at them from the complete darkness. "Let go of him Jay.  He won't get trigger happy.  Will you Skinner?"

"No-o," stuttered Carlos, immediately releasing the other boy.  Jay was glad to hear the quiver in his voice.  Nice to know even the Skinner could make the mistake of talking when on the edge.  Good to know that he was overwrought by what he saw in those eyes.  Fairies really were strange creatures. 

Thankfully Red looked away from them toward Evie.  Suddenly a dull green light glowed illuminating only the tip of her face with shadows lighting her face and fingertips.

"Fairy stone," said Evie.  When no one seemed to share her exasperation or sudden knowledge of what this meant for her magic.  "Fairy stone rejects or absorbs other magic close to it.  That's why it looks like our magic is running away.  The only way to light up this cave is to breathe life into the stones."

"Breathe life?" asked Red with a scoff.  "Bit over dramatic."

"It's an old saying," said Evie with a roll of her eyes. "It means you have to breathe on the rocks.  Go on, find one, though they won't glow more than this one here."

With a tapping toe, Jay carefully felt his way across the cave's floor.  Finally he bumped into something, unfortunately that turned out to be Beast.  Jay swore, but then to the corner saw another rock lit up, this time by the Skinner.  His hands were shaking and Jay found himself rolling his eyes.  Was the Skinner, the mass murderer/assassin, really scared of the dark?  What a wimpy thing to be frightened of. 

They carefully followed their path.  It turned out that as they moved forward, they kept to their hands and knees.  Partly so they could keep finding the stones to shred even the barest light and remind them where they had come from as they moved further and further into the darkness, and also because the spaces they went through got tighter and tighter.  They would go through an opening that is only so big, that would have them arching their backs down and around stones, Beast crawling on his body for feet at times. 

With each breath, in the tightest of spaces, Jay would find himself trapped between impulses.  On one hand he wanted to keep moving.  To keep going step by step, or arm over arm as it were.  On one hand he felt trapped by the rocks and the people around him.  He wanted to push faster and faster through the tight spaces that the rocks created and tried to choke the very life from those trying to make their way through.  But he also ended up somewhere in the middle of their little line.  Which was good in some ways.  They couldn't kill him as he broke through the mouth of the next open mouth of the cave.  And they couldn't get his feet as he wasn't the last making his way through.  No, instead he was trapped in the middle, unable to go back and only able to go forward as fast as the person in front of him.  Most of the time that person was Beast so there wasn't even a chance to crawl over the person in front of him.

When Jay tumbled out of one of those spaces, finally rolling out and hands spread out against the rock as he had his body still almost folded in half. These more open spaces were almost even more treacherous as it would take them a while to maneuver from stone to stone in the more open space.  Someone twisting and lighting rock to try and keep them from breaking their necks, and then they would reach the next area where the stones would constrict and it would be uncertain if Beast would be able to fit his bulk through. 

Evie briefly told them that they couldn't fit through, that if Beast got stuck, there wasn't much she could do.  They would squeeze through the space, hoping and praying Beast wouldn't get stuck, those behind him knowing that if there was a space he couldn't get through, then their only choice would be to go backwards as he was determined to make his way and would force his way into every crevice and if he got trapped then he was trapped for good. 

Each breath lit up the fairy stones.  Green for Evie and Red, orange for Skinner, blue for Jay, and Yellow for Beast. 

Then the hounds started their howling.  They listened closely, the sounds echoing, drowning out their words as they made sure the hounds weren't nipping at their ankles.  Fear causing them to shiver in fright as they all reached for weapons.  Even Evie going for her dagger since magic was uncertain in this cave of horrors.  Still, perhaps they were safe.  Like rabbits deep in their burrow too far down to find.

Section by section, rock by rock, no words spared for fear of causing little rocks to start their cascade tippy, tapping down beside them. 

Finally Red stopped, breathing out a sigh as she moved all around her.  After a moment Jay followed suite, and soon everyone was lighting the stones around them.  In each person Jay could see their arms and bodies shaking, the effort that it took to keep themselves going down all that time.  At least an hour wasted carefully going rock by rock down the cave, either clinging to the side or forcing themselves down narrow passages.

Then Red started to laugh.  Just a breathy chuckle before she looked up at the Skinner.

"You know, you lied earlier," she said the a twisted smile.  The Skinner just stared at her, and she rolled her eyes, taking one hand cautiously off the rock she was holding to slip into her shirt and pull out a flask. "You're father gave you more than just a good design sense with furs and a need to kill.  He also gave you those scars littering your back. No?"

A silence stretched.  As if everyone was waiting for the Skinner's come back.  And he only looked away. 

"Are you really going to keep pretending that you don't know who your mother is?" asked Evie with a spiteful sneer. Even after you've admitted you had the Instigator over there under your spell just to get information on Maleficent.  You don't do something that stupid for no reason."

"And your beauty isn't a desperate need to cover up what you really are?" demanded Jay without really thinking. "Such a good little mamas girl."

"Jay, you want your father..." started Beast and Jay exploded with anger.

"Don't you dare tell," said Jay, slamming his fist into the rock next to Beast. "Not when you're really from..."

This time it was Jay whose words were lost.  Because with that violent move backed with inhuman genie strength, the entire group found the rocks under them giving way and they plummeted into complete darkness.


	9. Mirrors

The rocks didn't knock into them as they crashed down into the darkness.  Evie was sure she had a new supply of bruises littering her perfect body, but well, she meant it when she said that either she got to the end or not at all. 

Finally there was a flash of light and something hard hit and cracked under Evie's back and all the air escaped Evie's lung.  Air completely escaped Evie's lung in a whoosh and as she lay there on the ground while gasping for breath like a fish.  Somewhere in the back of her mind, Evie realized that after so long a fall she should be grateful the fall hadn't killed her. 

Evie forced herself to roll onto her front, her arms shaking under her.  With a cough, this time blood splattered just a little across a cracked surface.  With her breath still coming ragged as she tried to force enough air into her lungs, Evie touched the smooth surface, only to wince and stick her hand in her mouth as well, the surface is more of a used to be smooth until a girl crash landed on it.  It has the look of broken glass, and the sharp edges of it to.

Her breath slowly evening out, Evie forces herself to her feet, looking down to see a jagged reflection of herself in the cracked glass.  Her companions are groaning on the ground.  Only person not groaning and delicately peeling themselves up off the mirrors.  Of course Jay is the one bouncing around, laughing, and helping Beast up.  Apparently he fell on the furry guy, breaking the worse of his fall.

But telling anything besides that was headache inducing.  It wasn't just the ground that appeared to be mirrors.  It was uneven and the sections split off, not one continuous corridor with reflections of the side or top.  Instead it was like all the mirrors of the world had fused together to create a sliding pathway that somehow even was above them.  Evie looked around her, the images playing tricks in her mind.  

Because the reflections were of them, each one of what they were doing, but each different.  Red sat, drinking one of her potions again as she rolled and snapped her shoulders and fingers with a bored look.  But only one of them were the real Red, it wasn't just the rest they were reflections, they were also different in how they looked in small to big ways.  One was just Red with her horns.  Another was of Maleficent herself at the height of her power.  A third was of Aura.  And so on with all mirrors that caught even a briefest flash of her, all doing the same thing but looking slightly different.

Beast growled and Evie glanced his way.  In the mirrors cracked and shattered by their weight crashing down on it, the images of two beings were inevitably interacting together.  In one a Jefar in his prime was leaning against what looked to be an older version of Beast while checking him for major breaks or wounds.  Another showed Aladdin and Gaston.  Another still showed an older Jefar as he was now and what appeared to be the king of Auradon.

Evie sighed and let her head fall in her hands and kneaded the spot right between her eyes. 

"We need to get going," said Red finally, pushing herself up as her wings fluttered behind her.

"How?" asked Jay, trying to walk forward and hilariously enough ran right into something solid and fell right into Beast's arms. 

"Carefully," said Evie with giggle, getting a glare from Jay.  Red rolled her eyes and turned to check through her potions, probably trying to find one that could be spread through the mirror area so they didn't have to stumble their way out.  Evie quickly went through her mind for something that would blacken them all so she and Red could create balls of light to guide their paths again, though it was unclear where the light for the mirrors was coming from as there also appeared to be no deep shadows to show where the light was coming from.

A hideous hag, bent, twisted, and deformed.  It was her.  It was Evie as she really looked without the Hunt to reverse her mother's mistake.  Evie stared at her reflection, just staring at herself.  She always hid, even from herself.  The mask and handmade dresses weren't just for her mother to play pretend.  They were even more for Evie.  Not that Evie could ever forget how disgusting she was even dolled up and hidden as well she could from the sight. No she knew with every rattling breath, every crooked step, every little peel of the skin that led to bleeding gums, nails, and orifice. 

The hand wrapped around her shoulder, and Carlos's hand easily caught her wide swing with a knife. He didn't say anything, just removed the knife from her fingers.

With a deep breath in, Evie let her head fall back with a sigh, refusing to look at the image.  That was not her.  Not now, and never again.  With a whisper the spell was released, but Evie's breath and words caught no magic.  That made her entire body freeze.  She tried again, eyes wide open, but again, her words caught no magic.

"Do I look like this?" demanded Evie, turning to hide her face and body as well as she could in Carlos's thin frame.  She was surprised to feel him shaking under her arms.  He almost seemed to be convulsing under her fingers.  He gave her a shaky smile.

"Of course you look like you," jeered Jay, causing Evie to try and hide herself with Carlos again.  Beast growled at Jay, obviously getting that Jay said had hurt a supposed friend.  If the silly thing was still naive to think like that. 

Carlos let out an exasperated sigh and pushed Evie carefully from him.

"I can't get my weapons either," he said.  Evie just stared at him, not sure how that was supposed to make her feel better about the fact that she was apparently ugly again. "I can't convince you by looking at your mirror or magic.  But do you feel like you are ugly again?  That you are a cripple again?"

Evie continued to stare stupidly at him until it clicked what he meant.  Evie closed her eyes, letting them roll back in her head as she first took in one shaky breath after the other.  Her shoulders shaking and catching as it rolled through her body.  Finally she moved from one leg to the other.  Perfect balance.  Shoulders the same height.  Joints smooth without ache or pain.  Breath coming with rattling or wheezing. 

"Can we get going already?" demanded Red, her foot tapping irritably against the mirror. 

"What do you..." Evie began to snap back, before she was cut off by the howl from some sort of creature.  They all looked around them, unsure what they were seeing.  Evie rolled her eyes and bit her tongue.  It was like she was back during the rest of the time when the very magic in the air, magic that should make life possible, was sucked out and replaced with this empty void that kept things going, though limited.

Red cursed as it did turn out that none of her potions left any marks, stains, or proof that they'd been shattered.  Even the vary places where they had crashed down on the mirror had started to seal itself shut.

So they started to walk forward.  Like in the caves, everyone kept their mouths closed except when needed or when swearing was just the only response they could think of would be appropriate. 

Still, where before there was tension that hadn't been there before.  In the caves it had been quiet, but with quit witted jokes and ribbing that sometimes would echo for a second before getting swallowed into the rocks.  Now the entire group felt like one wrong word would have them going for each other's neck.  It wasn't even that the fight before the fall had been that bad.  They hadn't even begun to touch on deeper fears and observations that everyone must have picked up through even this short of trip.

Plus, most of the things that people wanted to be said had been cut off or were now reflected for all to see in the mirror.  It wasn't as if they were telling secrets, they had just been digging into facts that no one wanted to know or were too afraid of admitting even to themselves.

Then a scream split the air, high and hard, and as Evie turned she saw Carlos disappearing into one of the mirrors, the surface ripping as it swallowed him.  Evie went to catch his arm before he completely went through, when her feet slipped from under her. 

Evie tried to catch her balance, but her feet couldn't get hold as if the mirrors had been waxed and eventually she crashed to her knees.  But nothing she did afforded her any purchase on the mirror's surface. The mirror itself slowly started to slant, and Evie tried to run forward, only to end up face down and flailing.  Screams echoed through the space and into nothing.  She tried to claw and force herself to have some sort of grip with either her hands or feet.  She even tried to bash her head against the glass to just prove that she could make an indent in the glass.

With an echoing scream, the glasses ended, but Evie's momentum kept her going, body flying into space.  When her wrist was grabbed.  Evie screamed out, this time in pain, as her wrist snapped and her shoulder popped. 

A scream of pure pain escaped her lips, and Evie crashed against a gritty stone cliff face.  Evie continued to cry out and whimper, her fingers and toes still trying to find purchase.  But her feet simply knocked loose stone and dirt to fall into what looked like endless void, and her fingers still slipped off the ice like it was coated in wax.

"Stop freaking out Evie," said Jay in his usual irritated voice.  Evie felt her whole body freeze up.  This was definitely last person she wanted holding her hand.  This was the guy she had blackmailed or at least manipulated in an obviously malicious way to get what she wanted.  Now here she was, and he was all that was keeping her from falling.  His feet firmly planted on the ground, though she had slipped and slid the entire way down to this point.

Of course the brute didn't even have the curtsey to look at her.  He was looking off in the distance and smiling vacantly at nothing.  Evie held onto her wrist as hard as she could.  Jay was the only one who could take her to safety when she had no ability to keep her body from falling and no magic to stop her from falling to a very final end.  If he let go, Evie would grab on with her other hand and he'd either save them both or he would fall into the abyss. 

"It's the mirror," said Jay in a whisper.  In a fit of stupidity that could have gotten her killed, Evie actually looked back.  She actually caught  glance of the Wishing Mirror, just as it had looked in the books, before she turned around to see that Jay was still holding her, though his eyes still staring at where the mirror was.  If Jay gave Evie a good swing, she could probably reach it with her feet.  He could definitely jump the gap, though he might end up hanging onto the side like Evie was. "Come on up princess.  We have a mirror to get to."

Jay dug his feet in and his muscles strained, his expression twisting into complete concentration.  With an exasperated sigh, he let his knees fall so they hung just over the side.  Jay kept holding her hand, and even took her hand off his arm and held her other one in his.  They just stared at each other for a second when Jay gave an exasperated, irritated huff of his breath.

Then a sound like rocks scraping and breaking as they rubbed together came from behind Evie.  She slowly turned to see that slowly, very slowly, the cliff on the other side was moving away from them.  Jay cursed, and his grip went from hard, to firm, to bone breaking very quickly, as he pushed his body up, arms stretched and teeth clenched. 

With a curse, he then collapsed back down.  Evie hadn't moved up a centimeter.  The daughter of the Evil Queen closed her eyes, listening to the scraping of the rocks as it moved the Wishing Mirror further and further away.  Evie was stuck, and the only one holding her from falling was Jay.  Even if Jay was a nice guy, well, it wasn't like he could hold Evie forever, and it wasn't like he could get her up.

And now that Jay was holding both her hands.  It would be easy enough for him to flick her away from him and into the void.  Evie closed her eyes and gripped him tighter, trying not to shake and still determined to drag him down if he tried to toss her as gathered at the side of her eyes.

"Maybe it's better," she said finally, a hiccup escaping her as one tear ran down her cheek. "Either way, I was just going to be mommy's little money maker."

"At least she was going to wait until you were thirteen," said Jay, his hand shifting under her hands.

"What?" asked Evie, feeling her heart skip, the grounding of the rock behind her competing in her head to drown her.

"My father has always wanted power," Jay said with a soft word. "When I was born he lost it and ever since he has wanted it back.  Every year at this time he tries.  He has tried everything, even the most mundane things to becoming one in body in mind."

Evie felt her entire body shiver, and she was glad that she wasn't looking at him.  That happened.  Evie knew from even the little she  heard that this happened.  But the thought of sex just bothered her.  It got into her head and buried itself there and all she could think about what her mother and whether how she was treated was better or worse. 

"You know why I want to be beautiful?" asked Evie softly.  Jay snorted and Evie could feel her fingers wrapped around his wrist becoming sweat and slick. "I want them to look back and never know whether or not they actually did it for revenge. Because that's what they do.  They are given fifteen minutes right now and they're not allowed to touch me.  But they talk and talk, and sure a few strip and show me how my mother did this horrible thing to them which leads to other acts... but looking at me they can pretend to do it for revenge.

"But now I'll be beautiful.  They'll have me for a night as revenge against my mother, and I won't be ugly.  There'll be a little voice that nags and nags them that they fucked me because I was beautiful, not because it somehow was a way to get revenge.  I want it to eat at their minds.  I want it to drive them into madness and make them wonder if they shouldn't be the ones on this island.  Sure, some might pretend I seduced them, that they were doing the poor girl a favor or had been compensated.  But I've seen the ones who come back to mother time and time again, the thought that their revenge was tainted by actual lust. That they have jerked off to the thought of my body.  I want their lust for me to destroy them."

Silence stretched, and Evie's body shook as her fingers started slip slowly down Jay's hands and she was sure he was going to let her fall.  Jay changed his grip and Evie tried to bite back a frightened last shriek so it sounded like the death call of a tiny mouse.  But instead of throwing her away, Jay was holding her tighter.  Now his eyes were shut tight, holding his lips in his teeth as he looked away from slowly moving Wishing Mirror.

"He'll never stop wanting us to be one again.  But if that happens, it will be like I never existed.  I'm just a extension of him, not my own person.  If I go back into him, then it'll only prove that," said Jay. He still refused to open his eyes. "I won't let you go."

Evie looked up at him, but he seemed to be refusing to look back at her.  Finally, he leaned back and Evie found herself going up.  Jay's eyes shot open, and once again his grip adjusted so it was once again firm and he pulled with all his might.  Evie held her breath, but suddenly she felt as if she was flying, flipping through the air, and crashing down again. 

She quickly started to once again try to catch the little breath she had lost in this little flight.  She dragged her fingers into the ground and tried to stop herself from falling backwards again.

Then she realized that everyone else was there, Jay stumbling in backwards to fall on his ass.  With shaking arms she pushed herself up on the mirrored ground, looking around at everyone around her.  Then she caught the eyes of Beast.  She groaned and grabbed her head.

Suddenly images of her catching Beast in a trap, and a complicated set of pulley's, ropes, and mechanics that kept him from being crushed.  The thing was, the way she was forced to hold it, meant that she either kept it tight in her hands, rope burns slowly forming as it slowly slipped little by little even when she wrapped it around her wrist to make it more secure. 

Then, like before, if Evie let go and let Beast get killed then she could get to the Wishing Mirror.  But then Beast said something about being a disappointment to his parents and he couldn't go back unless he became human. The conversation spiraled from there, longer than Jay and hers with more give and take.  With Evie talking about the time her mother would carefully take her hair in her hands and run a brush through.  The times she taught her how to sew.  How even with her mask and how ugly she was, her mother would tell her how to do her makeup and even make her beautiful on her birthday.

Beast talked about being the hidden in plain sight son of the king of Auradon because he was born looking like the king had when he had been cursed by the fairy.  His son had been born with a curse that was put on the father to reflect what an uncaring brute he was, and unlike the king, there didn't appear a rose to count down how long it would be until he would be stuck.  With Belle unable to have more children, and Best supposed to take the crown at sixteen.  They locked him in the castle him to teach him to "be a good king".

But the walls had ears, and Beast was good at making friends with the help and by the time he could walk knew all the secret little passageways and heard the arguments and laments about his parents and why they really kept him locked away.

They couldn't accept him looking like a monster, but since everyone knew he was alive, and their own morals they couldn't kill him and replace him with a child that looked as he should.  Some poor orphan or the like. 

So Beast, on the night of the Hunt, went to the Isles of the Lost in hopes the Wishing Mirror was real.  And along the way, apparently found out that his own people from the supposed good guys club, were murderers and liars.

Evie had saved him.  She didn't know if she did it because his story touched her, or because she wanted him to live with the knowledge of what he had heard.  That their fun night of revelry in the kingdom caused a bloodbath on Isle.  That every chosen hound and hunter in that great game during the night of the festival that pretended to kill a villain really killed a cowering, defenseless villain. 

She wanted him to remember that every time he closed his eyes.  She wanted him to dream of his friends and family chasing him down and slaughtering him while calling him the monster. 

She wanted him to remember and think of her.

"You know, you could tell your mother you wanted to use your looks to land a prince," said Beast.  Evie snorted, trying to remember what they were actually talking about as their conversation was as if said in a fading dream while the one with Jay was still clear as crystal in her mind.

"And how would that help me," she asked with a sneer.

"Because princes like their princesses to be pure," said Beast. "And you said you were still a virgin right?"

"Technically," said Evie slowly even as Red snorted and mouthed 'really?' at her. "But what prince would I even find on the Isle who would really care and why would I want to only be his."

"Actually, if I was able to do as Tremaine is trying to do with those of us she gave a computer to, than I would connect to Auradon, and you could have a real prince," said Carlos.  Evie looked at him in shock.

"You know how to work technology?" she demanded.  Carlos blushed a little and shrugged, looking down at his hands that were surprisingly free of any weapons. Beast just ambled over to Jay with a smile and slapped him on the back in encouragement, making Carlos duck his head in embarrassment even more.

"There, just the suggestion should interest your mother, right?  Being a gold digger is better than being a whore, isn't that what you said?" asked Beast.  Evie had a vague notion of saying it, though she had no idea if she had said it to him and finally nodded her head. "Then that's what you'll do."

"And even if the Wishing Mirror means nothing, I'll go with you," said Jay to Red.  Red looked up at Jay, confusion knitting her brow before she blushed and looked down at her hands.

"I still think your wish is impossible," spat Red.  Jay just shrugged.  Evie looked at him in confusion.  She hadn't actually learned what Jay wanted.  Well, no, she had a vague idea.   His wish would have something to do with his father and making it impossible to become one with him again.  But that didn't sound impossible.  Perhaps it was the way he was wishing for it that made it impossible.

"We should get going.  The sun is coming up, and Beast shouldn't miss his boat home once he looks more like his princely self," said Evie.  Red locked eyes with her and nodded.  Beast started his journey by sticking his hands in front of him and carefully inching forward across the mirror floor. Evie snorted.  She wasn't surprised Beast didn't offer himself as Evie's husband.  It was completely impossible for one, and she also knew she didn't want to leave the Isle.  The bluff was supposed to be just that, a bluff, a hope planted in her mother that she could once again live the good life in Auradon out of the pits and mire of the Isles of the Lost.

"Oh God," said Red, and as if turning a corner, started to sprint and disappeared between two mirrors.  Evie ran forward, and then she saw it too.  Stairs, mirrorless stairs that led up and away into what looked to be the night sky.  Jay let out a whoop of joy, and all of them were soon running and stumbling, and at the top they completely froze for in the distance there it was, hanging in the air. 

The Lost Mirror of Wishes. 


	10. The Hunter and the Dog

They had finally made it.  Alright, so they still had a long trek to it across a dark ground.  But they could finally see the real thing just in front of their eyes.  Jay had been right to think that holding onto Evie had been a test.  It had been so hard not to let her go, but he heard her story and then remembered what he heard that night.  That he remembered believing from what he'd heard that he should keep them together and try to save each other or they would never make it.

And now, it was all proving true. 

It was weird, because that was the most vivid memory he had of that his conversation with her.  Everything else was just facts he remembered in a jumbled mess.  Now the situation where Red had him stuck hard and just had to rip him and his skin off when the potion didn't work, well, that was stuck firm in his mind.  In the end, he hadn't even been what had saved him.  Just a balance between people, what they talked about, with Jay promising that if it was true, he would take Red to meet her mother.

Why had he promised that?  What had possessed him to say something so stupid?

A howl broke through the silence. They froze and then broke into the silence.  Maybe if they made it to the mirror before The Hunt was on them, then they would be transported to safety. 

Of course, nothing was hat easy, and Jay launched himself at the first one who showed up.  The Beast was taken by surprise, but even then, it seemed to easily shrug him off with Jay only taking a chunk of it fur with him.  There was an echo of howls and Red yelled for them to come to her.  They followed with a jumbled group just as two other dogs came into sight.

"Hunters won't be far behind," said Evie, a spell appearing to linger on her fingertips.  Jay nodded.  Three dogs and Hunters all when their goal was only a few yards from them.  Beast was shaking his head from side to side, obviously trying to decide where he would strike first.

"Evie, can you make this into a mist?" asked Red, handing the girl a potion with a dark purple color. Evie grabbed the potion, not asking what it did and suddenly they were all trying to see the slowly encroaching dogs as they blinked through the stinging mist that smelled vaguely of over ripened apples. 

"Besides blinding us, does this do anything useful?" snapped Jay, but his voice startled one of the dogs, who barked and sprang like a loaded spring.  The others soon followed and while Evie got out a rushed spell, it caught only one.  Jay only noticed for a second, as he was going for the other, an arrow flying over his shoulder and Beast going after the other one.

He hit the Dog hard, and they tangled together in a pile with teeth snapping at him, trying to get at some part of him and rip him apart.  Something wet covered Jay, and he freaked, his limbs going crazy as he became first as big as a building, until he remembered what happened the last time he did that and he became as sRedl as a mouse. 

With no thought or planning, Jay rolled until he was magically pulled back toward the girls.  Red kicked him, and Jay grabbed onto her, when a voice echoed in his head. "Calm down, tough guy, why the hell do you think that I gave you that potion to keep you safe from the ones I planned on using.  Pixies are morons, the sRedler the size, the sRedler the brain.  So having these potions is a must. Now stop wigging out, because Beast is starting to lose his fight."

Jay caught her eyes for a moment before he pushed himself to his feet and she yelled out a spell that set the dog that Jay had been struggling with on fire.  Jay turned and went for the next dog that had its jaws being held in Beast's hands as it apparently tried to rip his head off.  Jay helped with that by first climbing onto its back and then while it shook and growled, he felt its skin slipping on his fur as it was eaten by whatever potion Red had thrown on him.

What magic was in this stuff anyway?

Jay grabbed at the beast's jaw, feeling the sharp teeth against his fingertips as he pried open the dog's jaw, pulling and pulling until he had almost ripped it apart by the mouth.  Then something hard shot right past and nicked his ear.

"Hunter!" shouted Carlos, and Jay felt something else fly by his side as the dog whipped its head around, tossing him right into Beast.  The guy grabbed Jay in his arms and then ran away from the dog as an arrow with through a tuft of hair. 

"Jay, Beast concentrate on the two remaining dogs!" shouted Carlos. "The girls and I will get the Hunter."

"There's another one behind us!" shouted Evie as a shimmering shield enveloped the three.  Jay turned to the growling dogs. One dog was circling to get at the girls, while another whose muscles and bones were showing in places lowly growled and limped toward them. 

"You finish off that dog, and I'll go try and take down the others," said Jay.  Beast nodded and they both started to run after their chosen dog, trusting the others to at least distract the Hunters.  Still, Hunters worked a lot of time with long range weapons, and if Carlos and the girls could take them out on that field, it would be preferable.  Hunters might be the ones to shoot you in the back with an arrow or bolt, but they were deadliest when they were close enough to use whatever was their preferred weapon, which thankfully was hardly ever a long range one.

With a conscious decision, Jay became bigger and yelled wordlessly in the general direction.  He hated getting bigger.  SRedler, yes, sRedler was always better than bigger.  Because the bigger you got, the more of a target you make yourself.  Jay used to think bigger was better, and then he almost died and only the sun saved him in the end, that and his father splurged on getting him a healer since he was sure that Jay's death would mean the magic was out of his grasp forever.

The dog actually did hear him, and turn on him.  With that and Jay's new size, he was able to tackle the dog and get it away from the others.  The attention was now on Jay. The dog was growling and snapping, hurt and limping but still very dangerous.  Jay was soon under a slick dog, grabbing at burned flesh.  It was disgusting, but in moments his attention was taken by teeth scrapping at his arm.

Then in moments, Beast joined in, apparently having finished off the dog.  Jay smiled and grabbed at the things neck as it tried to get a grip with its teeth to rip him apart. Then there was a deafening crack that made Jay's stomach roil.  The body of the dog went completely limp, and the corpse let out a rattling breath. 

Both Jay and Beast turned to see Carlos barely holding himself against one of the hunters, blades flashing as he only just parried the blow of a truly impressive sword.  The girls appeared to be trying to put up some sort of partnered attack with Evie catching what looked like lightning bolts as her norRed shield kept sparking as something hit it.

Jay went to help the girls as Beast went to help Carlos.  The lightning throwing Hunter didn't seem to see him, to focused on the girls while laughing from deep in his gut.  Jay tried to knock his head, but apparently the Hunter had seen him coming, because he took one step to the side and threw a casual lightning bolt his way.  Jay rolled to the side, even as he was sure that he would be fried.  The bolt instead was dragged toward the girls where Evie was furiously muttering to herself and glaring at Jay.

Jay retreated, dodging as the Hunter now casually was throwing out his lightning bolts, with hardly a glance or care.  With his feet constantly dancing, Jay wasn't sure if he dared becoming sRedl, sure it would only slow him down.  Though it would make him an even sRedler target for becoming a crispy piece of genie.  Only that would be temporary.  There was nowhere to run but into what looked like into the very depths of darkness or toward the mirror, which ay didn't even know was real anymore.  It could just be a vision.  Like when they were all tested to see if they would betray each other.

Then sparkles seemed to appear the Hunter.  The Hunter froze for a second.  Jay, on instinct, changed his stance, going from a defensive to offensive one.  The Hunter let out a chuckle suddenly and blew at the sparkles, only for what sounded like the screeching of a thousand nails on a chalk board and the eerie cries that rang from creatures traditionally during the night. The Hunter brought up his hand again, but then suddenly bright red lava appeared around his body, stopping just short of his head and completely hardening. 

Now that was fairy magic.                                                         

The Hunter froze for a second, looking from side to side.  His massive head straining, still hidden in darkened shadow.  Then he appeared to be struggling.  Jay had started to saunter toward the girls, hoping to figure out with them a plan of attack to kill the Hunter while he was still trapped. Then he saw that not only did the Hunter in moments create a crack in the hardened lava, and light shown through the crack a second later. 

He was using his lightning inside it.  And somehow not destroying himself in the process. 

"Support me!" thought Jay desperately toward the girls, angry with his father for not telling him more about fairy magic.  It didn't matter that he thought of it as "inferior", it was much more prevalent than any genie sort.

Jay had no idea if the girls had thought to get in his head, but they no longer had time to think about it, and the girls were so busy defending themselves that they hadn't had time to talk out strategy. 

He thought he felt something as he felt the his feet from under him fly in the air as he wound back to deliver a punch straight to the Hunter's face.  It knocked the Hunter back and away across the dark floor, far enough that he fell into shadows.  Jay, was following, this time feeling something wet and sticky run over his body, not even feeling the crash of the potion.  The Hunter didn't even seemed phased, and the only thing Jay could hope was that he wasn't imagining anything when he thought that there was a dent in the Hunter's head. 

The Hunter was already summoning another lightning bolt to his hand.  Jay really hated this Hunter.  Most had swords or other boring weapons to attack people.  This one only had lightning bolts.  That wasn't even fair.

The lightning bolt was flying at him before he could get to him.  Jay felt in the back of his head that made his entire body shake despite the fact that he had pushed the pain completely into his head.  The pain pounded in his head, there even as Jay tried to not pay it any attention as usual.  He struck out against the Hunter, and collapsed against him.

Light filled his vision, and his body seemed to collapse as he felt his head scream in pain.  The next thing he knew he was waking up, his eyes snapping to look at the chest of a dark Hunter.  He scrambled away, his hand getting stuck inside the Hunter before he pulled it free with a sickening squelching sound as he tumbled backward and off the Hunter.

"Calm down," said a soft voice, Jay only tensing as he heard voice as she ran a hand through his hair.  He turned his head, only to feel the shaking of his entire body as a cough rattled through him.  Evie wasn't looking his way. "They're killing the other one right now."

Silence stretched through the entire darkness. 

"We killed it?" asked Jay, his voice shaking.  Evie smiled at him before looking away as nodded.  Jay gave a cough. "Three dogs and two Hunters.  I think we're the best gang that the Isles has ever seen."

"We certainly will make them fear us," said Evie, a far off look in her eyes.  This time her gaze going to the mirror. "Red seems set on making us a part of the gang, though she seems to think that we'll only be a little better than her pixies."

"And you didn't try to convince her otherwise," said Jay, slowly pushing himself to his elbows.  Evie whispered a spell under her breath and ran a hand through Jay's hair almost absently, raising an eyebrow.

"During a fight, I can't be nearly as chatty," said the Evil Queen's daughter dryly before turning her gaze to where the others were coming from.  Jay appeared to be riding Beast's back, and Beast himself had what looked like a hastily applied bandages.  Red looked no worse for wear, though a little put together perhaps as she blew a sweat covered hair from her face.

"We should be getting to the mirror," said Red as they all got back together. "We still have the hour.  But who knows how far that mirror actually is."

"Are we really there?" asked Carlos, sounding drunk.  Evie huffed and shot Red a look.

"If we run into trouble.  We'll need the Skinner," said Evie while pushing Beast to put Skinner down. "Go hover over Jay if you're so concerned."

"I'm fine," said Jay, pushing away so that he could properly stretch.  Beast watched him before turning to Red.  The fairy didn't even pretend to pay  him any mind, though neither did she protest the fact that they stayed while Evie looked over Skinner.  Ten minutes went by slowly, but by the end, Jay felt that he wasn't as tipsy on his feet and his breathing wasn't as labored.

Jay rolled his shoulders, the snapping and cracking a welcomed relief.  He really should try to be more loose during fights.  But Evie had a point.  If they stayed a crew after this, they would be formidable.  And they would also have an established reputation already in place.  After all, word they had reached the mirror would spread like wildfire, and with the hyenas word on it, and with gifts received, especially if Evie got her wish of beauty, well then they would be established as one hard group to beat.

That drew a nasty grin. Exploiting the people would be easy, and well, it wasn't as if their parents didn't have power of their own.  It wouldn't be long until they were running the Isles. 

"Well, let's get a move on before we get old," said Red, with a step toward the mirror, turning her back on them, but pausing, clearly waiting for them to follow her.  They might become a crew, but there was no way that Jay was going to be Red's underling.  He came close enough to that when she had him under that promise.

Still, they were much more cautious now, while also trying to speed up their pace.  Beast looked as if he was about to scoop up Evie a few times.  While the girl might not be as frail as the rest of the year, she was still a shut-in which meant that she simply wasn't that used to this much exercise in one day.  Still, none of them could claim now that she had been a useless part of their group.  In many ways, she had been the most valuable, especially in fights.

Jay might have been surprised at her cool head, except this was the girl that fended off clients when she was sickly and they weren't allowed to have sex with her.  Presumably they weren't allowed to hurt her either, but Jay had met on his excursions a few of the 'good people of Auradon' when they came to give their 'goods'.  If they weren't out for revenge once they 'wandered' from their party, then they were certainly looking for excuses to pick a fight.

Actually, none of them had been useless during this entire excursion really.  Red had her potions.  Beast had his magnetism and fighting ability, Skinner had his bag of tricks, and well, Jay had taken down a Hunter with his bare hands.  Jay looked down for a second.  The dark red sticky mess still covered his hand where he had apparently plunged his arm through the Hunter's heart when he had leaped with lightning flowing through his body.  Jay wouldn't have thought it possible.  Sure dogs got killed during the Hunt.  But usually only two or three, and usually that was done by overwhelming the dog, which meant a lot of casualties, those though were usually by minions anyway.

There was an intake of breath.  Because they walked toward mirror, it was literally now, clearly, only a few feet away.  Beast, Evie, everyone was staring at it as f they were going to jump out of their skins and simply grab on for dear life.  But no one moved forward.  It was as if they were waiting for it to disappear.  For it to morph into another obstacle that they had to overcome in some strange way. 

Red checked her watch, clearly just pausing.  Jay was close enough that he was able to get a glance.  Somehow, they still had about half an hour until sunrise.  Plenty of time for each of them to grasp the mirror and speak their wish.  Of course, if none of them dared, then it would never happen.

Finally Jay took in a deep breath and walked forward.  In the corner of his eyes, he could see everyone else taking a defensive stance.  Getting ready for the trap that Jay was obviously walking into and would probably instantly kill him. 

Then Jay's hands grasped around the mirror and it was as if time just stopped.  A tick like a clock range through the entire space, and the sky and ground beneath them lit up.  Stars plastered above them in familiar celestial patterns.  But oddly enough, it was like they were in the clouds, for beneath their feet, miles it appeared below them, was The Isle's of the Lost.  Jay glanced to the side, and sure enough, in the distance he could see the clearest view of Auradon that he had ever even dreamed of. 

Jay glanced at Beast, the boy had a clear look of longing as he stared at Auradon, and Jay realized that they would probably have to find a way to smuggle Beast back to his mainland home.  The other clearly wanted to go back home, and while as a fighter he might stand his own, emotionally he just wasn't evil enough to survive the Isle of the Lost.

"Are you going to make your wish already?" asked Red with a roll of her eyes.  Jay sent her a nasty look, but sighed.  He was stalling, but part of it was that Red was right.  The thing he was wishing for probably wouldn't come true.  It was probably beyond the magic of the mirror.  But still, he had come all this way.  He had to try.

Jay took in a deep breath, picturing the words in his head and summoned the courage to make his wish.


	11. The Lost Mirror of WIshes

They all stood there uselessly in the sky as Jay held onto the mirror.  The Mirror of Wishes was just as it appeared in the texts, except it was actually smaller than Evie had first imagined.  Not so small as to be a hand mirror, but looking comfortable between Jay's hands.  The frame was simple enough, a silver frame, with a gentle pattern like sea waves.  At the top was what appeared to be a small diamond dead center.

Jay took a deep breath, but he seemed to be stalling for time.  Red kept checking her watch, and Evie glanced at hers and then rolled her eyes.  It was the same time as when Jay first touched the mirror, which admittedly he had taken it anyways. 

This was ridiculous.  Jay knew his wish.  They all knew their wishes.  There was no way that he hadn't been like the rest of them going over and over in their head what exactly what they would be wishing for.  Wording and all. 

So this stalling did nothing but leave all of them on the edge of their seat.

"I wish," started Jay before pausing.  Everyone on their toes.  When would their turn come?  Would they have their wishes granted.  Would Jay be able to do so? "That my father was more like Aladdin."

That had to be the moment that they all just sort of stared.

"What?" demanded Carlos, looking over at Evie, probably with the rest of them wondering if he had heard Jefar's son correctly.

Jay didn't seem to even be trying to hide that yes he had just wished his evil father to be more the hero of his story.  To be more like the person that had ruined his father.

"I told you he had a stupid, impossible wish," said Red with a roll of her eyes. Jay sent her a nasty look.

"We don't know if it hasn't been grated yet," said Jay defensively.  Evie stared at him along with everyone else.

"I think that is a worthy goal for your father," said Beast, obviously trying to stand up for his friend.  Everyone that actually lived on the Isle gave him a sideways look and a frown.  Being a nice person, even a nice person is a checkered past would only get you, at the best, killed.

"Well, I suppose you'll find out when you see your father next.  Anyway, it's not like any of us are going to tell what you wished for," said Evie, trying to sound nonchalant.   Obviously from the way everyone was looking at her, she hadn't accomplished that at all. Jay was in particular giving her a rather startled look.  Evie coughed, blushing and looking away from Jay.  It wasn't like she was trying to do him a favor or anything.  He was going to be a part of her crew if she got her wish, and that meant they needed they needed protect each other's secrets, even if it was just so they could get leverage later.

"Right, we'll work out the lie before we go see how our wishes work out," said Red. "But until then, it's the shut ins turn."

Evie looked at Red in shock, but the fairy just rolled her eyes and made a shooing motion toward Evie.  The daughter of the Evil Queen blushed and walked slowly over to Jay.  Despite making his wish, Jay still looked tight around the shoulders.  Probably didn't help that he wouldn't find out if his wish had come to past or not until he got back home.  Or at least, how much of his wish could have been granted.  After all, to change someone that much you think would have been impossible.

Jay reluctantly handing the mirror over to Evie, his eyes following it even though his one wish was gone. 

Evie looked into her mirror, knowing what she wanted even as her voice seemed to be stuck in her throat.  Evie stared into the mirror even as she tried to force the words out of her mouth.  It was taking too long, and others were showing the same irritation as they had shown to Jay.  So Evie drew in a long breath. 

Simple, the spell would be best if she could make it simple.  Evie let the magic of mirror tingle against her fingers.  It felt so overwhelming as it worked into her very mind .  Simple.  And she would be beautiful until the end of her days. 

"I wish to look as mother did naturally on the outside at my age," said Evie.  She knew that the wording could turn her wish back around as much as it had her mother. But Evie knew it was how she had to say it.  Before this, before she felt the magic at her fingertips, she had a wish that might have been called an Epic.  Now, with those few words, she just knew they were right.

They had to be right.  Evie had to be beautiful.  She had to be beautiful or she was dead and her mother would be left all alone. 

Shivers ran up and down her spine.  She looked over her hands, but saw nothing there out of the ordinary.  It still looked as smooth as it always had during been Hunt.  And Evie wouldn't really have her answer until the sun came out and the Hunt was officially over and their magic once again stripped from them.

"Well," said Red with a sigh. "The last few wishes have been rather anticlimactic."

She sauntered over, looking Evie up and down before holding out her hand.  Evie handed over the mirror, her fingers lingering on the frame.  She was just as strange as everyone else in this situation.  Why she was reluctant to go, well, had to be psychological.  After all, it didn't feel like she had gotten her magic.  It didn't feel like anything had happened.  The magic of the mirror hadn't even made the hair on her body tingle with a surge of power.  Nothing to show that the magic inside it had done anything at all. 

Red took the mirror, seeming to look at her reflection in confusion before rolling her eyes, and closing them immediately.

"I wish you to show me and everyone who my mother is," said Red.  Obviously going all out on the wish.  Evie supposed that it made sense.  The wish wasn't so big that nothing would happen.  Someone, perhaps as many people as the mirror could grant the ability to, would see the answer.  Maybe just the people who knew or suspected.  But by now, that number would probably be enough that Maleficent would have to acknowledge her as her daughter.

Suddenly, in a swirl of color, a vortex appeared, swirling with clouds and darkness.  Then the center lit.  A magical portal that showed truth as it would appear in the world.  Truths spoken in light of the magical that absorbed it into the history of the world.  Each second recorded to be pulled to the forefront.

Then a flower appeared, unfolding rapidly as purple petals spread like a star.  A yellow middle pushed out, and around the yellow center was a child.  No, the beginning of a child.  Just the beginning of a fetus forming.  Then a laugh broke out, grating and unmistakable even to a shut in like Evie.  Horns a appeared, then green skin with a long face, dramatic makeup, and long black clothes.

Maleficent, before she was brought back to life, before she had lost her inner most magic pledged to her from hell itself it was said. 

"I knew it," said Red, and Evie guessed that was the point.  Red knew who her mother was, perhaps not the flower, but the fairy who had given her life force to the flower to form her. The point was to show, to prove to everyone that she could that she really as Maleficent's daughter and get every advantage because of that.  Red must not be too worried about the fall out that was also sure to happen.  All the people who would target her just for being the powerful fairy's daughter.  But hat made sense.  Red already was probably a big target just for her potions racket. There was no way someone Red's age could have built up such a big potions empire without making all sorts of powerful enemies.  That was the reason for the stupid groupies of fairies that Red had recruited after all. 

"Well, your turn Beast," said Red, a smirk plastered across her face as she twirled her hair in her fingers. "A solanum dulcamara huh?  I guess a weed's nothing to sneeze at."

"I thought it was a type of nightshade," said Jay. Evie looked over at him and then rolled her eyes.

Beast though, was completely distracted.  This time he held the mirror in his hands without making the wish.  Just seeming to be looking deep into the mirror.  Then he growled low in his throat.  The sound actually menacing. 

"I wish to break the Beast's curse from now until eternity," said Beast with the deepest growl.  This time the magic did take a dramatic turn again.  This time, a cloud that flashed various colors, showed brightly in the darkness, surrounded Beast.  They all waited, and they weren't disappointed.  The clouds disappeared into a flash of light. 

Before them stood a young man.  Blonde of hair, with a perfect dimple smile.  Perhaps a little ruffled by what had happened but overall looking like the perfect prince he probably.  Now that he was human...

"The Beast's curse," said Red, looking him over.  Then her eyes widened, and she smirked. "You're the king's son.  Ben, right?"

Beast, or Ben, looked at Red in shock.  Evie had to admit, it made sense now that she thought about it.  After all, who from the mainland was more likely to be of Beast in body but human in soul.  He obviously didn't feel right in the Beast body, and was probably shunned on top of it for that reason. 

"Well Ben, it's Carlos's turn," said Red, flicking her fingers at Carlos. "This is certainly going to make getting you off the Isle's difficult."

Ben looked up at her in shock. "You're going to help me get home?" he asked. Red rolled her eyes.

"Of course we are.  We can't have someone to goody-goody ruining our perfectly evil way of life," said Red with a flick of her hair. "Really, I've seen your father's propaganda posters.  They're sickening."

"Thank you Red," said Beast and then looked around. "Thank you everyone."

"It's not for you," said Red with a scoff. "Now give the mirror to the Skinner so we can get this over with," said Red.  Beast looked at all of them, clearly not sold on Red's insistence that she and all of them were really evil. 

Beast turned and gave the mirror to Carlos.  The Skinner stared at his reflection, that same pause dragging out for quite a long time. Finally, Carlos sighed and shook his head. They all walked toward him, dragged toward him as if by a spell.  Soon they all stood in front of Carlos as the Skinner took in a deep breath, ready to make his wish. 

"I wish my mother would forget that I killed Gaston," said Carlos, his hand drifting toward his neck before it fell down by his side.  Beast automatically started taking a step away from him.  Jay stopped him, and gave a shake of his head.

Carlos let out a breath, his wish one with no dramatic signs it had worked yet.  It was an interesting wish.  Even if Cruella did forget, no one else would.

"You killed your father?" asked Red and then snorted. "Wasn't he also some sort of big shot assassin and weren't you like five when he died?  That's just pathetic.  No wonder your mother took credit.  That's just too pathetic to even make you look good."

Well, if it wasn't common knowledge that Carlos killed his father, well, maybe then there was a reason.  Maybe it had something to do with those whip marks on his back.  Though those were very old.  Evie had only caught a glance of them, but while they were visible, they were obviously completely healed.  It actually wouldn't surprise her if they were from when he was five.

Still, that explain why he didn't want her to remember.  Evie might be a Shut-in.  But her mother was a gossip, and the walls in their apartment were very thin.  There wasn't much to do when stuck in that little room but listen to everything said next door or even in the streets.  Still, it was a surprise, not that he killed his father, the Skinner had to start somewhere after all, but that no one knew but Cruella, that did seem quite a stretch.

Still, it was irritating.  Carlos was the person she knew the most after her mother, and now that Evie thought about it, she knew nothing about him.  She knew he was a killer and that his mother picked the targets for him and often got angry when he took a hit on his own.  He knew a lot about first aid, and that you didn't sneak up on him.  She knew other little tidbits, and she could always excuse her ignorance on the fact that Skinner didn't often talk beyond the most basic sentences.  But that didn't feel right.  She should know more.  She should have dragged it out of him. 

Evie pursed her lips and looked around, and was surprised to see one of the Spirit Sprite's hovering a few feet away behind Carlos.  It was one of the ones from before.  The that had placed itself in front of Jay.  It had that swirling pattern of bright red, green, and yellow along the edges with two swirls of red surrounding the cheeks. 

Then the world started to shake.  They all crouched, well, except for Red who used her wings to keep her flying.  Evie checked her watch.

"Better be careful Red," she said, the fairy looked over at her. "Time has started again."

The fairy sent Evie a glare, like the Evil Queen's daughter was the one who caused this. Evie held her ground.  If Kronk, Maleficent, and apparently her mother had survived their little jaunts, then there had to be a safe way to get back to the Isle's. 

Then two sets of stairs stretched across the sky.  One of metal and wood, seeming to be put together haphazardly and looked like a strong wind would rattle free the welds and nails.  Then there was a second one that started building itself across the sky.  Made of strong stone and shining metal that sparkled and actually had a rail to hold.  The first circled down to the Isle's below them.  The second one reached right into the heart of Auradon.

Evie glanced at Beast, whose gave went from Red to her.  He looked confused, lost for a second, before he smiled, and Evie realized that Beast was gone.  This perfect image of a dull, kind, perfect prince was now standing in his place. If he didn't have a place in the Isle's before, then this cemented it.  Not that beautiful people who could fake kindness couldn't exist on the Isles.  After all, Hans had tapped his own place selling her mother's silks and some of the clothes Evie made just because she had the time.  But with one look at that innocent smile... no, this prince's biggest sin was maybe a touch of kindly vanity and blissful ignorance.

He would be eaten alive.

"Come with me," said Ben, and everyone looked at each other, and Jay actually took a step away from him. Ben looked in distress, but his expression became determined, and he reached out in front of him. "None of you belong there.  You never got the chance to be innocent.  To have a normal childhood.  Come with me.  I'm the king's son.  I can convince him you deserve a chance."

"Even me?" asked Carlos, looking at the ground with a scowl.  His arms wrapped around his middle. Ben looked Carlos over and then sighed and nodded his head.

"You just can't kill anyone anymore," said Ben with a very forced smile. "Well?"

They all looked at each other until Red finally shook her head.

"Our home is on the Isle's," she said.  Evie let out a breath.  Some part of her was disappointed, but glad the choice had been taken out of her hands.  Auradon, full of life, where with the prince's support the goody-goodies would at least have to pretend to accept her.  It would be amazing, perfect.  No more cramped room.  No more horrible clients.  Food in abundance.  Heat during the winter.  Life.  But a land full of enemies who smiled while wishing you death, and to never be able to see her mother again.

Evie shivered to even think about it. 

"Very well," said Ben with a pout.  Evie rolled her eyes.  Somehow she liked it better when he was a Beast.  He was more adorable that way.  Now he just looked pathetic, no edge at all to his look.  A pink mass without the ability to even use its flimsy body to save him.  He still paused, his gaze going out over the stairs.

"You can't stay here," said Red making a shooing motions with her hands. "Plus, won't your perfect parents be worried about you?"

Ben snorted, actually looking disappointed.  He looked back over the stairs.  Red let out an irritated huff and glared at Jay.  Blaming him for bringing the crown prince and causing this whole emotional mess.

"Beast, what is going on?  Why aren't you going home?" demanded Jay.

"I don't know if I can.  I mean, my life isn't nearly as hard as yours has been," his voice trailed off and they all wanted to hear what he was trying to get to. "But I've always heard and been told that it isn't what you look like, it's who you are.  But when I turned into this the first time when I was little, they hid me away.  No one was allowed to see me.  Then it happened again and again, until I was stuck like this.  Alone, locked away.  It was a palace.  I had rooms to explore.  Games and books.  My education was done through the internet, I was taught everything, given everything I wanted but never able to see anyone but those who knew.  There had to be something wrong because I got the curse, and the Fairy Godmother said she couldn't or wouldn't change me so that I was human."

"And now that's what you'll think every time you see them," said Jay and then let out a rough laugh. "You'll hear what they say. Hear them spout all their pretty words and remember that even though it was your father's fault you looked liked a monster, they still hid you away like some sort of dirty secret."

"Shut up!" shouted Beast, and then his hands went o cover his mouth.  Suddenly, a twisted look made him shiver and Evie could have sworn tears entered the side of his eyes. "Why did they do that.  Father says that it was important everyone remembered what he went through!  That they could see in the end that redemption was possible.  That it wasn't what was on the outside but what was on the inside.  But I had no rose.  I had no way to break it through love.  No promise.  I was stuck.  And they hid me away, and it was only because mom couldn't have more children that they kept me as crown prince."

Evie glance to the side.  Red was rolling her eyes. Carlos looked bored before giving a deep sigh.  Jay tapped his fingers together, looking hard at Beast as if paying attention until he looked away.

"I just wish it never happened.  This has been the closest I've been to anyone in a long time," said Ben, holding his head. "I just want to forget."

"I didn't think we were that bad," said Red with a scoff. "We did get you what you wanted."

"But that's the problem isn't it?" asked Ben, falling to his knees beside the stairs, still not leaving.  Evie glanced at her clock.  Princes really were very dramatic weren't they.  Just in a different way than what she was used to. "You've been more decent to me.  Trusted me more than my parents.  Looked at me and trusted me to fight beside me.  Thought of me as good, I can see it in your eyes.  So why couldn't they see it?"

Evie checked her watch again.

"We should all get going soon," said Red with a sigh, going and leaning against the stairs frame. "What are you waiting for.  You can't stay on the Isle.  It won't be long until everyone knows the truth, and you'll be hunted down ruthlessly."

"I don't want to return there!  I don't want to remember!" said Beast, leaning down next to the stairs. his voice becoming softer. "I don't want to remember how they treated me because of how I looked.  How they judged me because of something they did."

"Fine, you want to forget?" asked Red with an irritated sigh.  From her pockets she took out two vials.  One was a dull yellow with what looked like gold specks, and the other was a sickly green/yellow. "Take the yellow and you'll forget everything before it.  You'll still be able to talk and you'll know what most things are, though this potion does affect mind sometimes, but everything else is fair game.  You won't remember a thing, and you won't want to.  Everyone else will be looking, and you'll exist in blissful ignorance. The green potion is more finicky, it will change your memories.  It will take what you want to forget, and alter your memories to something more palatable.  Instead of a beast, you'll have to sick to get out of bed, and after this Hunt, you will be miraculously cured.  Unfortunately this is not so strong a magic.  If you're family doesn't go with the change, and even if they do, when inconsistencies rear their ugly face than memories will play in your head again and again."

Beast looked from her, to the potions, than back to the potions.  Finally he reached out, paused for just a moment, then like a snake struck, but Red caught his wrist.

"Don't take it until you are safe at home," she said seriously.  Ben looked at her, Beast's eyes round and reflecting that same innocent confusion and need.  He took the green/yellow potion and held it close to her heart. 

Finally the newly made, perfect prince, with only hair on his head that was the perfect brown with blonde highlights left.  Not even a goodbye, just a smile and a wave as he walked over the stairs and back home. 

The sun's first light touched the skyline.  They all turned to the stairs, one by one, step by step.  They went home.  Back to the Isle's of the Lost. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost at the end now. Thank you everyone who left kudos, commented, and read the story. This has been a fast (for me) run, and after this we just have to see them back home and the consequences of their actions and wishes.


	12. Afterwards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, each section is short, but it's just supposed to convey the idea. Though, Ben continues to be so dull that not even his section is really about him.

Jay

It admittedly was a bit of a mad dash home.  As they descended the stairs certain facts had to be hashed out like what happened to Beast and then who killed him.  The most important question was what had he wished for.  The answer was complete genie power, which he hadn't been able to be granted because his body wasn't strong enough.  It seemed weak to Jay.  He had never had that much interest in being stronger or having powers.  What use was power in an island that allowed none?

Within moment of Jay making it back into the little tent he called home with so many other people exiled to the Isles.  The first thing he noticed was that their bed had been completely stripped.  Jay had never seen it this way before. 

Sure, alright, eventually Jefar would get sick of all the random junk Jay stored in their tiny space and if he were exasperated with it, then he would either sell it or throw it away.  But never had it been done in one night, and never everything.  Jefar usually kept his own things, like his mountain of pillows, patchwork quilts, and drapes to keep their privacy. 

It was all gone.  Just the bare bones of a bed left.  Jay ran a hand over the thin mattress.  Where was his father?  Why when the sun came up hadn't the man stormed through the streets demanding to know where Jay was?  Why wasn't he baring down on him now and asking that same question? 

"Hello Jay, my boy," said Jefar, wrapping his arm around his son.  Thankfully Jefar hadn't surprised Jay this time and had spoken before he touched Jay.  It never turned out well when Jefar touched Jay, and Jay reacted with violence.  Jefar was much to knowledgeable to let his son attack him.  After all, both of them constantly played on the edge of a knife's blade.  They needed each other to survive, the other half of their being trapped in the others' body.  It also meant they were always resentful of the other person. 

"Dad," said Jay, plastering on a smile and turning on his heels. "Sorry about last night.  I know you like to do a bit of father/son bonding, but I made it to the wishing mirror."

"So I've heard," said Jefar, stepping around his son.  jay watched him carefully.  The stories always described Jefar as tall and imposing with a dark, twisted body that could go from straight and tall as a statue looming ominously in the background, to flashing to a twisted stance like that of a broken tree. Now he was squared, not short, but certainly not tall. "What did you wish for?"

Jay was thrown by how his father was acting.  Usually the man would have him by the ear, demanding and threatening him with unspeakable harm to get him to confess to whatever he believes to be true.  Now his father appears to be talking about his quest in the same tone of voice most people talk about nothing.  Just a little bit of small talk.

"I wished to have all those genie powers," said Jay. "Don't know if it worked.  The sun came up."

Jefar stared at him for a moment and then laughed, pulling him into a side hug.  They started to drag her away.  Pulling him out of the tent, those still resting, lazing the day away in their hangovers and grumbling stomachs.   

"You have no interest in our little genie powers," said Jefar with a wave of his hands. "There was no way you would go on such a difficult trip for something you consider to be a bother."

"I went with my new crew," Jay said, fishing for a reason why he had gone that he might be able to defend.  Praying Jefar wouldn't figure it out.  But of course Jay had been right that his father wouldn't believe the genie thing.  He just hadn't expected his father to break apart what he was saying so quickly. 

Of course Jefar just laughed at him, uproariously and shook his head.

"Jay, Jay, my boy you think I wouldn't find out the truth?" sneered Jefar, though he looked happy enough. Jay immediately forced his shoulders to relax and rolled his eyes, the excuse just on the tips of his lips. "As soon as you made that wish I felt the change."

Jay didn't say anything.  He could chalk it up to delusions.  Say that his father was being self-centered.  But Jay wasn't beaten bloody yet, his little trinkets he kept on his person weren't torn to shreds.  Jay didn't even see his father's usual lackeys around. 

"You wished to know everything didn't you?  To have phenomenal cosmic power!" said Jefar and then threw his back in a laugh.  Jay tensed, still not sure if he should say anything  to contradict at this point.  Not even sure where his father would get the weird idea that he'd ask for something like that.  Jay had never sought out books on his own.  Actually, whenever his father had let it slip that he planned on teaching him anything from reading to history to anything where his father sat him down and tried to lecture at him, Jay was known to try and make himself scarce. 

"Of course you didn't get your wish," said Jefar, sounding ridiculously smug.  Jay had no idea where the conversation was going.  Why was his father smiling like that?  It was almost, well, Beast like. 

Jay's heart skipped a beat.  Of course, he wanted to smack himself over the head, hard.  His wish.  His father was acting more like Aladdin.  He was kinder.  More affectionate.  Had a less sinister smile.  Had also apparently become less intelligent, but Jay could work with that. 

He'd gotten his wish.  Jefar wasn't raving about his son missing a night to join him.  He wasn't railing about a missed opportunity at becoming one again. 

"But you forget Jay, we are really one being," said Jefar, and Jay felt his insides freeze in fear.  Of course this entire friendly thing could just be an act, and Jefar had decided it was too risky to keep and was ready to tempt fate and kill Jay to try a last ditch prayer to get all his powers back. "And you have always been the muscle of our little partnership.  I, on the other hand got the subtle and powerful magic.  You were the one born in ignorance, but I have the knowledge of kingdoms and sorcerers long past in the ground."

Jefar then paused, a big smile lighting his face as he went to some grubby door and started scrapping a key against the lock. Finally it opened and Jefar made a motion, beckoning Jay inside.  Slowly Jay went inside, only to blink and look around himself, spinning in circles around a store sprinkled with items.  All thing Jay had stolen were now placed everywhere.

"What is this?" asked Jay.

"This is our ticket to the easy life," said Jefar, clapping his son on the back. "It hit me like a lightning bolt.  What better way to get everything we needed, than to take everyone's stuff from them and trade it back for favors, goods, and everything we ever dreamed we could have on this rotten island?"

"What about being Maleficent's right hand man until you find a way to stab her in the back?" asked Jay.  Not sure really at what he was looking at. Jefar rolled his eyes.

"And what, rule over this pathetic bit of nothing?  Listen to the squabbling and play nice with the local scum," said Jefar, his face twisting into a familiar sneer. "No, I'll leave that to Maleficent.  Instead, we're going to get to the easy life.  No worries, just doing what we want. Though first we need to get plenty of merchandise to fill these shelves.  Which is where you will bring everything you steal from now on, and then I'll sell it to the unsuspecting suckers."

"I don't think they're going to be that unsuspecting," said Jay, though then he immediately thought of some of the very limited intelligence of some of the sidekicks and mentally called himself an idiot. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

Jefar rolled his eyes and then in a completely unexpected move, dragged his son into what could only be called a hug. Jay went stiff, and looked up at his father, who smiled widely before looking around his home with an appreciative eye. 

"This isn't some sort of scheme to get into Maleficent's good graces.  This is you and me, the muscle and the mind, working together and living on easy street," said Jefar, squeezing Jay's arm, but not in warning, almost kindly. "Can't you see it now my boy?  Between your sticky fingers, and my haggling, we won't have to worry about power.  We'll just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Evie

Getting back to the apartment was easier and harder than expected.  Evie had been twirling in her hair, wishing she had thought to bring a small mirror that wasn't summoned by magic with her, so she could admire herself.  The sun was officially up and shinning and she was still beautiful.  Evie twirled in spot. Her legs were the same size without any extra little joints or twists that made her buckle under her own weight and walking almost impossible.  Now she could skip and jump around as if she were walking on air.

People watched her from the side, but no one seemed to be bothering her.  Evie ignored them, throwing a dagger into the air from time to time. 

It seemed like too soon when she finally made it to the apartment.  She wanted to just revel in being out in the open.  Maybe check out the venders or flirt with some unsuspecting minion.  But no, she needed to have this talk with her mother, hash it out and all that.  Besides, now that Evie was beautiful, she didn't need to be hidden away. 

Still, Evie was feeling a little mischievous as she slipped on her old mask.  No one appeared as she went up, actually the place looked had been attacked during the night.  Doors were left wide open with claw marks and blood splattered everywhere.  Even a few bodies littered the floor.  Evie felt herself tip toeing around the blood.  Not that it made any sense.  Her clothes were completely ruined anyway from that night. 

Their door had been ripped from its hinges, some Evie's steins spread across the floor, ruined with blood seeping into the material.  As she opened the door, she paused.  Her sewing machine, the thing her mother had paid in blood to get from Auradon was left in ruins across the floor.  Pieces of metal scattered across the floor.  Evie doubted even the most skilled mechanic could fix it to work again.  The pieces needed might exist on the island, but finding them would mean sifting through a lot of shit to find.

Looking around, Evie saw a body sprawled across the floor. The daughter of the Evil Queen felt her heart beat faster.  Logically her mind immediately knew it wasn't the corpse of her mother.  The body was to thin, in trampy clothing her mother wouldn't be caught dead in.  Everything was wrong, and yet there was a moment when it took her breath away. 

"Evie?" an almost scared voice came from the corner.  Evie turned to see her mother getting up from the floor, hands on knees, her black coal mascara running down her cheeks.

"Mommy?" she asked, and ran to her, grateful when she felt her mother's warm embrace surround her. They were both trembling, ghosts of shivers crawling down her spine. Her mother made irritated grunts and pushed her away.  The Evil Queen pushed Evie away, and brushed the tears from her eyes, smearing her mascara all over her face, black streaks marring her aging beauty. 

The Evil Queen ripped the mask from her daughter's face and gasped.  Grasping her in a tight hold, pushing her face from side to side, running her hand across her daughter as if she couldn't believe what she seeing. 

"You're..." the Evil Queen's voice failed her, and she took a deep breath.  Evie watched her carefully.  Her mother could be at her most erratic when she got emotional.  Her magic for one was almost ruled by it.  While Evie usually found she was at her best when she had calmed herself down and knew her studies, her mother flourished under trying times and pressure. "What did you wish for?"

"To be the most beautiful in the world," said Evie.  Her mother gasped and held her daughter's chin in a harder grip.  She then scoffed and let go of Evie.

"You look exactly like I did when I was your age," said the Evil Queen, sounding bitter. "I suppose that was the best it could do."

Still, the Evil Queen's gaze strayed on her daughter for a moment longer.  She finally turned around and went for the dresser.

"Well, before we call in the cleaners, we're going to have to make you look decent," said the Evil Mother.  Clothes started flying, and Evie took a careful step forward, avoiding the clothes that now seemed to sprawl across the room.  Her mother tisked, and spun around and held one of Evie's dresses against the Evie's body.  Looking her up and down before throwing it at Evie.

"Horrible," said her mother, watching and shaking her head as Evie stripped out of her current clothing to put on the dress. "Doesn't fit you at all anymore, and of course those brutes had to wreck our sewing machine.  Well, the needles and thread are still good, so you'll just have to fix them to the right proportions later."

The Evil Queen shook her head and once Evie was done getting her dress on, starting groping her daughter.  Evie, not entirely unused to this treatment, sighed, and held herself completely still as her mother cupped her, fluffed her, and made more tisking sounds.

"We have so much work to do," said Evil Queen with another shake of her head. "Look, I can even see my old unibrow starting to connect your face.  And look at those pours.  That sells it.  We need to get you fixed up right away.  You are a wreck."

Evie felt the area right between her eyes.  She didn't think she looked that horrible.  Alright, her clothes didn't quite fit her anymore, and she probably was worse for wear after her little adventure, but she wasn't a hunched back monster anymore. She was beautiful.

But there was always room for improvement. Always something you could fix to give you an edge over the competition.  Her mother was right. 

"Well, first thing first.  We're going to the spa," said the Evil Queen.  Evie groaned, letting her head fall back.  Now there was one of the many places her mother went that she had no interest in going.  Sure, she knew the idea behind the spa, that it was a place to relax and become rejuvenated, but in reality, it was basically where vain people went to be tortured with hot water and barbaric tools in hopes that they would eventually become beautiful through "promised" means. 

Evie always thought her mother looked horrible after a trip there.

"Mommy," she said, drawing out word as a whine.  Evil Queen shook her head.

"No daughter of mine is going to show her face in public covered in blood without so much as a little blush on her face," with that said, Evil Queen dug her fingers into Evie's arm and started dragging her away, presumably toward the spa. But all Evie could hear was that she was going to be able to go out in public. 

She smiled.  It had worked.

Carlos

Every little sound had Carlos on edge.  He looked around the warehouse, trying to find the source of the noise.  Nothing.  Carlos let a breath out.  He still had a knife at his hip, and the now useless bag at his side, but he didn't want to take those out.  Not until he knew for sure.

Another bang echoed through the warehouse.  Probably nothing.  Probably just the machinery.

A cold, long, gloved hand wrapped around the Skinner's ear, twisted him down to his knees, and then a heeled foot kicked him the rest of the way down.

"You imbecile," sneered Cruella, her heeled foot digging into Carlos's back.  He didn't flinch or move, the pain something he was used to.  His mother's moods were constantly in flux.  And her anger would die much quicker if she just let herself vent out her frustration. "What do you think you're doing, going on a mission like that?  Are you insane?  Well, I heard you're little group made it.  What did you wish for?"

Carlos sighed and carefully rolled over, his mother removing her foot and scoffing, crossing her arms and turning from her. "I wished to know how to get through the dome."

Cruella scoffed again and kicked out with her spiked heel.  She turned her back on him and started walking from him.  Her hand absently petting the stuffed animal on her shoulder. Carlos got up, shaking a little, waiting for his mother to strike out again as he watched her carefully.  Still, he followed her, wincing at the sound her heels made against the concrete.

"Let me guess, you know nothing?" asked Cruella, lighting a match for a cigarette.  Carlos winced.  His mother only broke into her supply when she was particularly stressed.

"I'm pretty sure I can figure it out by using the computer Lady Tremaine gave me," said Carlos quickly, looking to the side.  His mother made a disgusted sound and the door to her office banged open.

"Right, and you'll probably finally figure out after I'm long dead and you're too crippled to get out of your bed," spat Cruella, taking another long drag.  She shook her head. "You are nothing like your father.  Such a disappointing burden."

Carlos felt his breath catch.  His mother called him many thing, but not useless, not unless he missed him mark.  So he supposed it wasn't proof, but she was acting oddly toward him.  More dismissive of how dangerous he was.  While she could throw him around spit at him in anger, she hardly ever turned her back on him.  The thing about Carlos was that not only was he a killer, but he was his parent's child.  And both his parents were driven by their desires and impulses. 

"And this little group you went with?  Red, that drug pushing bitch.  Jay the disorganizer.  Evie the shut in.  That creature... you know what mutts like that are like?  They are pack animals," said Cruella looking down her nose at him.

"I am going to be part of their gang," said Carlos, holding his arms hard as his mother sent him a furious glare.  He looked away from her and took a step backwards. "Though Beast is dead.  Evie dropped him so we could get to the mirror."

"You are not running with those hooligans," snapped Cruella, turning on him and backing him into the corner of her office.  Carlos watched her carefully.  She snorted and took another drag, turning back to her shrine.  Sure the office was set up to Cruella's usually need for fur and comfort. It was also all of stuff Gaston had made from the scraps around the islands, and the pelts he'd ripped off the bodies of the evil animals that lived on it.  Cruella sometimes would spend silent days, only drinking water and staring out into nothing as she stroked the fur on the couch. 

Those days Carlos made himself scarce.  Not wanting to remind Cruella who is was who had put those shears threw her loves throat. 

"He had the devil in him, that was sure," said Cruella, her free hand going to trace a scar that went from her cheek, down her throat, under her clothes. "And now he's gone.  Dead because I choose a stupid boy over him." Carlos actually gasped at this, because Cruella glared right at him. Did she mean...? Because when Carlos killed Gaston, Cruella had been out.  She had found Carlos long after the sunset, sitting and looking at his shears in a daze, his father's dried blood flecking his clothes and skin, and Gaston's corpse propped beside him.

"You were just defending yourself," said Carlos carefully, ducking his head as his mother sent him a sneer.

Then she sighed, her entire body seeming to fall in on itself. She glanced to where all the luxury Gaston had left behind were. 

"Well, how did you survive the night?" demanded Cruella, glaring at the office.  Carlos shrugged and took out the Weapons Bag.  Cruella's henchmen could never have been accused of being particularly smart.  The naming of their things tended to demonstrate that.

Cruella must have seen Carlos taking the bag out, because she immediately turned on him.  She hit him on the head, her nails scraping against his skull.  He flinched, and Cruella pulled the bag from his hands with an angry grunt.

"What were you thinking you stupid boy!" screamed Cruella.  She breathed hard, staring down at the nag before she suddenly lashed out and slapped Carlos, causing him to once again fall to the ground.  Carlos felt his body shaking, his cheek stinging.  He brought up his hand to his cheek. He felt the bumps against the cheek, and when he took his hand away there were specks of blood on his fingers. "You can't even properly hold a knife.  What use was this?  What are you even playing at.  Someone actually called me thinking you were the one who is the assassin.  Like you have the backbone for it."

Carlos felt his breath catch.  Had this actually worked?  It had been such a long shot, but it had been the only wish she think of that might make her forgive him, might make him stop killing or at least no longer have something over his head to guilt him into doing it. Now, it was like she had completely taken on the role. 

Cruella let out an exhausted sigh and actually threw the cigarette from her, and right onto the couch.  Carlos looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then the couch caught on fire.  The flames springing up from just a little smoke.  Carlos ran, ready to try and put it out, but his mother caught his ear in her long fingers.

"It's time to let go of the past," said Cruella with a huff, and started to drag Carlos out.  Carlos broke free of her grasp, his fingers fumbling with the choker at his neck.  He flicked his fingers and the necklace was thrown into the fire.  Cruella caught his ear again and dragged him out.  But Carlos watched as everything they had left of the man who had been his father was eaten by the flames. 

He looked back at his mother, who was staring at him oddly. She walked toward him and Carlos gulped, taking a fearful step back, but she just ran a hand along his face. "Perhaps this gang of yours won't be so bad if it keeps gives you a backbone. Just don't let yourself get hurt.  What would I do without someone I trust to take care of my furs and scrape the bunions off my feet?"

Carlos shrugged, and then stiffened as his mother dragged him into a hug.  He froze for a moment, but when his mother started sniffling, he returned the hug, holding her tight, trying to keep himself from also starting to tear up. 

He couldn't stop from holding her tighter, trying to get seven years worth of hugs out of this moment.

Red

Jay was jittery ever since Red had picked him up from his new house.  Red rolled her eyes as he looked furiously around as they broke into Maleficent's top floor studio apartment.  As Jefar's son looked carefully around the space, Red walked in confidently, her held high.  Maleficent herself seemed to be absent from the apartment.  Red sighed and went over to Maleficent's desk.  She shuffled through the papers, though they still made no sense to her.

A door slammed shut, and Red looked over to see Jay putting his head against what looked like an actual, intact, refrigerator.

"It's back," he said.  Red rolled her eyes.

"Then get gone. I have some catching up to do with dear mother of mine," said Red, flipping her hair and turning her back on the genie.  She could feel him looking at her.

"I thought you wanted me to... introduce you or whatever," said Jay, haltingly.  Red rolled her eyes and looked over at him, raising one eyebrow. "I'll just leave then."

Red turned away even as Jay tumbled over something on the floor.  Maleficent might be the Empress or whatever of evil, but she was also apparently a clutter bug. Most of this stuff looked like just junk.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Street Princess," Red froze and then forced herself to relax.  She casually turned around to see Maleficent leaning against the big table in the middle of the room.  Red smiled and walked toward Maleficent.  Both of them looked each other over.  There was recognition in both their eyes.  They knew who they were to each other. "What are you doing in my little apartment?  Jay cave to you already?"

Red just rolled her eyes.  She was not playing this game.  Like she was supposed to be surprised Maleficent knew that Red had manipulated Jay.  Not with the amount of minions Maleficent kept having follow the genie. 

"So, why did you ditch me at that orphanage?  You know how many times I almost died and became the next day's lunch?" asked Red, walking down, hips swaying as she stalked toward her mother.  Maleficent's just stood there, a smile on her lips twisting as she waited for her daughter to confront her.  There wasn't a shred of remorse hidden in that devious smile.

"If you really had died, then you wouldn't have been worth a damn," said Maleficent with a roll of her eyes. "And you're not making much of a case for yourself by whining."

"Making a case for myself?" scoffed Red with a roll of her eyes. "How about this.  While you rot away up here, dreaming of the glory days.  I'm the Street Princess.  Little Red Riding Hood with a basket full of treats as long as you can pay the price."

"Pathetic," said Maleficent with sneer.  Red found herself completely tensing and turned on her mother.  She was a major player in this world.  How could her mother dismiss her like that? "Oh, don't get me wrong.  For some wayward child of no renown, making your own potion empire on this pathetic rock, but you are my daughter.  You should have dreams and schemes of taking over the entire free world."

"Well, sorry to disappoint," said Red sarcastically.  She had no idea what she expected when she confronted her mother, maybe a little respect, maybe some acknowledgement that Red had carved her way up to the top using just her wits though she was only thirteen years old.  Certainly not this derision.  But then again, what had Red really expected?  It was a proven fact that the old generation couldn't let go of the past.  They always were stuck on it.  On how much better it had been back then.  So really, if Maleficent wanted to be a pathetic waste of fairy magic, caught in the past like everyone else.  Well, that was her problem wasn't it. "But don't think I won't be getting nothing out of this. I made my wish, and now everyone knows what you are and who I am.  I'm going to milk this for all it's worth."

"You're going to be a bigger target now," Maleficent pointed out.  Red scoffed.

"I have always been a target," Red said, taking out a potion, swinging it in front of Maleficent and smiling. "Now, mother, why don't we talk business?"

Maleficent sighed and shook her head. "So hand fisted.  It's going to be a struggle to teach you to have proper vision isn't it?"

That caught Red off guard.  Her eyes widened and the potion actually slipped out of her fingers and shattered on the ground.

"Do you mean?" asked Red, disbelief and hope making her almost choke on her words.  Could her mother actually be accepting her?  Maleficent smirked, and then Red gasped as she felt something shoved into the skin of her arm.  Pain immediately started to fog her vision and she fell forward, grasping onto her mother.

"Now don't fret little one," said Maleficent, catching her daughter and lowering her twitchy body to the floor while carding a hard through Red's hair. "Despite your malformation and lack of vision, I'm still taking over your growth and upbringing, and one day we will rule together.  But first, no daughter of mine is going to be an addict.  So you're going to go into recovery and come out fast because there's a lot I need to teach you."

Maleficent deposited Red on the hard stone.  Red could feel herself losing control of her body, and she had a pretty good idea why Maleficent wouldn't even pretend to for some blankets in these circumstances.  All she could hope was that Maleficent was telling the truth, and this wasn't a trick to make sure Red didn't drink an antidote.

"Let go my little one.  Let go Mal."

Beast

The constant beeping from the machines in the hospital were very distracting.  Ben kept being drawn out of his book to glance at the monitor before glancing at Audrey before returning to his book.  He was glad that during his sickness his mother and father had kept him at home, monitoring him with basic science and just a touch of magic.  So while he was suck alone half the time lying in bed delirious with fever and weakness and the rest of the time wandering around a sterile area of the castle his parents had created for him.

The young prince shivered.  He wasn't quite sure what happened during the night of the Hunt, but he was glad that he finally got to take his place as Crown Prince.  Of course this meant that he suddenly was getting dragged everywhere in a last bid effort o get him ready to take the crown in three years, making the last three days more filled with people and crowds than he had ever been exposed to in his entire life. 

It was overwhelming to say the least. 

Still, his parents allowed him this one luxury.  Every day so far they had come to the hospital.  It was horrible.  Oh, the people were... alright the children were... well the children were heartbreaking, but he could talk to them, laugh, hold back his tears and he figured that he could easily empathize.  And the maternity ward was... Alright, so Ben might not be going to the hospital for his place of choice to show his kinder side when he was king.  He knew his father was really into it and enjoyed seeing and offering comfort to people at the hospital, but Ben just didn't think he could. It was the atmosphere of the place, it just got into his head.

There was an irregular beep and then Audrey actually appeared to flinch.  Ben gasped, putting down his book and leaning toward the girl.  Audrey had apparently woken up a few times before, but had yet to be lucid, and had never been awake the fifteen minutes Ben was given in his day to sit down with her.

He leaned in close, his hands clenched to his book.  He wanted to reach out to her like she had to him.  Audrey.  The only person beyond his parents, the Fairy Godmother, and a couple of servants that he had seen in his entire life.  Audrey was his only friend.  The only one not his so called doctor, his parents, or paid servants. 

Then Audrey opened her eyes.  Ben leaned in, smiling.  This time he did grab her hand.  She blinked, turned to him.

"Audrey?" he asked, wondering if he was getting to her.

Then she smiled at him.

"Benny-boo," she said weakly, squeezing his hand very weekly. "You're less furry now."

"I knew you'd know," said Ben, holding both her hands in his.  This was real personal contact.  Yes, getting to know his subjects was important, but none of them had meant anything to him beyond a vague concept before he finally turned into a human.

Audrey reached toward him, her eyes twinkling with light.  She gasped, and tears sprang to her eyes and she seemed confused.  Ben put down the book and drew her into a hug.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ben, running his hand through her hair.  Audrey looked at him and then around at where she was.  What little color was in her face suddenly left.  Then she was leaning over and vomiting on the ground. "Should I get a nurse."

"No, no, I just want to be with you right now," said Audrey, turning and burying her head in his chest.  Ben scrunched his nose up at the smell instinctively, but told himself to sop being insensitive.  Audrey was going through a rough patch, and well, with her gift probably had just realized her mistake. "Oh God, I am such an idiot."

"It's ok Audrey," Ben said, petting her hair.  And well, it was with him.  Ben knew Audrey, and after hearing his father rant and the servants giggle over The Hunt, he could see how two usually smart kids could act incredibly irresponsibly  and get themselves into trouble.  But that didn't mean you ostracized them.  You needed to show you supported them, if not their actions. "I mean, with all the magic in the air and everyone drunk on magic, yours must have also been effected."

"Oh my God, what about Doug?  He took something too," said Audrey, sounding devastated.  She turned her tear streaked face turning to Ben.  Ben took a second to remember who that was.  He only remembered when he thought back to who it was she was talking to.

Ben forced a smile, sure it was shaky, and she could see right through it, but the thought counted.  Right?

"He's doing much better than you, at least health wise," said Ben with a shaky laugh. "I mean, he took a Forget All potion and he's fine now.  Doesn't remember his family or any of his life before he woke up and phoned the emergency team to come save you."

"Oh God, I gave him that potion," said Audrey, shaking with tears rolling down his eyes.

"It's not your fault..." started Ben when Audrey dug her fingers into his arm and glared at him.

"Don't you dare," snapped Audrey. "I have Clear Sight.  How could I have not known what I was doing?"

"The magic, it could have messed with you.  I've heard the rumors," said Ben hurriedly trying to smooth things over.

Audrey stopped sobbing and just held onto Ben, not contradicting him, but not saying anything that made him think she agreed with him either.

"And me, I took sleeping pills didn't I?" asked Audrey softly.  Ben held her in his arms, bringing her close to him as if that would keep her closer to him would keep his new friend safe. "I didn't mean... I swear, I'm not like my mother."

"I know," said Ben, but she could probably hear that everyone else thought that was exactly what she had done in his voice. "It'll be ok.  I'll be there, and I'll let everyone know it was just the magic playing tricks with your head.  It does that to people even with magic like yours."

"Why did she give me this?  My parents knew gifts were only trouble," said Audrey softly.

"Hey, the Clear Sight is the only reason you knew about me," said Ben softly.  He moved her face so she was looking at him. "You were able to see me, and you always knew that I would get better.  Excuse me if I'm thankful for the Blue Fairy."

"At least one good thing came out of this curse," said Audrey, still sounding bitter.  Audrey seemed to be petting him, her fingers running up and down his shoulder. "I was so afraid.  I kinda miss you..."

"What, miss me as a shut in?" asked Ben with another forced laugh. 

"Sorry, can you blame me for wanting you all to myself again?  I'll have to share you with the world now," said Audrey, petting him again. Ben chuckled.

"I promised I'd be for you, and I meant it," said Ben softly.

"You're the best, Ben," said Audrey with one of her smiles.  Actually looking at him. Then her eyes glinted. "Will you... If they let me out.  Will you go out with me on Friday.  There's this nice little shack.  Sells burgers and ice cream.  Not really up to our royal palate, but with what your parents gave you everyday..."

"Hey, that sounds great.  From what you and the servants told me about fast food, I've always wanted to try," Ben admitted with a smile and a laugh.  Audrey looked at him adoringly, then frowned, suddenly looking down and stuttering.

"Maybe we can make it a date.  You are thirteen and not a cuddly... boy with a sickness anymore.  You have to start looking to getting a princess to marry.  After all, you're supposed to basically declare who you're going to marry when you take the crown.  The plan is to stick to that law now that you're better right?"

"Um yeah, I just... that was really sudden," said Ben awkwardly, but when Audrey started trembling he mentally shook himself.  This was ridiculous.  He liked Audrey.  Sure he had never known anyone else, but neither had his father, not really.  Audrey was his Bell, just with less of a rocky start. "It just caught me off guard.  I would be more than happy to go with you to that little shack.  It sounds like the perfect place for our first date."

Audrey smiled at him, snuggling before she groaned.

"No wonder you hesitated," said Audrey. "That has to be the least romantic..."

"Audrey?" Both of them turned to see Duke Philip in the door way. "Nurse!  You should have contacted the nurses immediately when she woke up!"

"I asked him not to daddy," Audrey snapped.  Ben actually found himself backing up in surprise at the venom in her voice. "Sorry, I just.  I didn't mean to do it."

"I know sweetie," said Duke Philip. "But maybe just in case we can have mommy's friend talk with you a little.  Maybe stay inside until you feel better."

"You think I'm stupid?" hissed Audrey.  She took a deep breath in and let it.  She forced a smile, and when she looked over at Ben, her smile softened and almost looked sincere.  Philip looked Ben's way, and Ben ended up clearing his throat and looking down at his hands.  A father never liked it when his daughter started to look at another man like they were their sun and moon. That had been what his father said, right?

"No, but dear..." Audrey's eyes glinted, and Ben actually saw Duke Philip flinch this time.  "Please Audrey."

"I can't stop it!  Maybe you shouldn't have been careless around fairies!"

"Philip," said a harsh voice.  This time when Ben turned he saw Duchess Aurora standing in the door. "Leave."

Duke Philip tried to say something, but the glare seemed to freeze him in place, and then finally he stood up and left.  Ben also saw his parents at the door.  His mother was looking at him and smiled, bumping her shoulders with Philip as the Duke left. Ben's father actually glared at the man. 

"Hello my darling.  I think it's been too long since we talked," said Aurora, smiling as she went over to Audrey.  Ben watched them, well, Audrey more.  He knew that Audrey believed her mother to be, well, not gone, but distant.  Ever since the incident and the overdose, Aurora spent her days either doing her duties or in the attic with a spinning wheel.  Audrey hadn't talked about it a lot, but whenever she had, her voice had been laced with regret, sadness, and anger. "If you don't mind my prince.  I think we need some time alone as a family."

"Of course," said Ben with a nod, hurriedly standing to his feet.

"Wait," said Audrey, catching Ben's hand. "Ben and I want to go on a date this weekend.  If I'm better..."

Aurora looked her daughter in the eyes before she sat back and looked at Ben. Then a very kindly smile went across her face. "Of course.  And I'll provide the chaperone as you have been providing them for so many years."

"Of course," said Belle with a sweet smile.  She put an arm around Ben. "Come on Ben, we should leave them to talk."

Ben sent one last smile to Audrey, who returned it before looking over in what only could be adoration at her mother. 

"Well, it's not like you missed much this year," said Beast as he dragged Ben into a hug. "Us old heroes are getting old, and the young ones are being brought up without controversy.  There were only people who qualified as dogs and only five who made it as a Hunter.  The villains of the Hunt completely overwhelmed us.  Five of them made it to Fairy Godmother."

"Gypsies were happy though," said Belle with a smile. "They always volunteer to be spelled in the likeness of the villains."

"And then they always try to make them win," said Beast with a growl.

"Well, it wouldn't be proper sport if they just let you 'kill' them would it," said Beast. Ben found himself chuckling, and Beast drew him into a side hug. "I'm so proud of you son.  In three days you've made the entire kingdom love you and got yourself a girlfriend.  You are going to be a wonderful king."

Private Studies

"This is your fault," said Mal, glaring at Evie, who rolled her eyes.

"I am not taking the blame for this," said Evie lightly, tapping her mirror and running a hand across her lips. "I know everything already.  This is completely redundant for me."

"I guess that's why you're teacher's pet," said Mal with a sigh.

"I thought Skinner was teacher's pet," said Jay with a laugh.

"Shut up," said Carlos with a snarl.  Jay rolled his eyes and leaned back so he could put his feet on the table.

The door banged open and all of them looked to see Lady Tremaine return.  Mal rolled her eyes and went back to practicing forming her letters, though she had added enough curly cues and embellishments that you really couldn't tell what they were anymore.  Jay looked back out the window.  Evie had yet to touch an actual pen to paper, and Carlos started tapping furiously at his computer.

Lady Tremaine sighed and shook her head.

"How is that the Street Brat is the only one following my instructions?" she asked with a drawl.  Everyone glanced at her, and most of them gave a shrug. Lady Tremaine sighed, rubbing the space between her eyes. "My daughter's were brighter than you lot."

"Is this little party almost over?" asked Maleficent, entering with a huge sweep of her hands, followed by the other's parents as well. Lady Tremaine let out a sigh and went over to her book, snapping it shut.

"All done for the day," she said and looked like she was about to whack Carlos for a second before her eyes darted over to Cruella and she ran a hand through his hair instead. "Keeping working on that program.  It has a good idea."

"Yes, yes of course, go home you old bat," said Maleficent.  Lady Tremaine sniffed looking Maleficent and down while her nose was scrunched like she'd smelled something bad before she held out her hand.

"My payment," she drawled. Maleficent rolled her eyes, but twisted her finger, taking them both out of sight for a moment.  In the meantime, Cruella had gone over to Carlos and twisted his ear in her fingers, demanding to know what his teacher had been talking about while Carlos complained he'd already had explained it to her five times that day and couldn't he just work.

"Be faster just to tell her," muttered Mal.  Cruella glared at the fairy.

"You don't tell my boy what to do," snapped Cruella.  Maleficent looked the woman up and down, snorted, and then went back to sketching her letters. "Teacher's pet."

"What was that dog whisperer?" asked Maleficent, coming back into the room.

"Like I bark for you wicked witch," muttered Cruella backing up.  Mal glared at her mother, her mother glared right back.  And surprisingly enough, her eyes turned a wonderful green color. Mal felt something in her respond and she tried to stare down her mother for a minute.  Something in her responding to something that was becoming harder and harder to ignore until she blinked, her eyes falling to the ground.

"Yes mother," her lips said, something tying her to her word, like spider's web but perhaps move fragile.

"Well, so you can use some magic like this even then," said Maleficent with a smile. "I was afraid of that you wouldn't with your malformation."

"I have wings," said Mal with a shrug. That got her mother's attention. It wasn't that she hadn't talked to her mother, but she they had skirted around the conversation of magic.  Maleficent seemly because she was disappointed her daughter had so little, and Mal because her mother had effectively destroyed her potions ring and was no longer allowed to make and distribute her potions except under the strict watch of said mother whose ultimate goal was to apparently wean everyone of the potions. 

"I don't... they're gossamer," said Maleficent, looking Mal over. "Lucky girl."

Mal found herself blushing.

Jay snorted.

"What about my Evie?" asked the Evil Queen, coming to look over Carlos's shoulder, obviously to his mother's dislike as she glared hard at her. "You have her website up yet?"

"Just finishing it up.  As soon as I break through the dome then she'll be catching the eye of all the eligible princes," said Carlos.

"Well hurry up," said Evil Queen, bringing back her hand as if to smack the boy.  Cruella caught that arm, and while the women didn't come to blows, they did start a rather nasty fight.

Mal started to put away her drawing when a word caught her attention. Not that she liked learning.  But it was that or watch Jay completely unsubtly hand over all the little knickknacks he'd stolen from her mother and Lady Tremaine, and at least the words were useful.  But the word that they'd learned that day was "live" which was interesting, because then Evie had smiled and written in messy handwriting "evil". 

Mal started drawing, putting the words together.  Eventually realized her gang members were all surrounding her.  Looking down on her picture.  She looked up and caught Jay's eyes first who nodded in approval.

"So Evie," said Mal, turning to the girl who raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Can you get us some spray paint along with that purple hair dye?"

"As long as you promise that you'll make a tag for each of us.  My mother isn't the Empress of Evil.  But the live evil thing.  I can totally get behind."


End file.
